## CHAPTER 13: THE SECOND HEIR
Cassandra entered the boardroom alone.
No security team.
No tailored jacket.
No calculated corporate smile.
She wore a loose gray dress beneath her coat, and there was no hiding the truth.
She was pregnant.
Far more pregnant than Kiora had expected.
At least six months.
Kiora stared at her.
“How?”
Cassandra closed the boardroom doors.
“My father arranged it.”
Adrian remained beside Kiora.
His face was pale with shock.
“You are carrying our embryo?”
Cassandra flinched.
“Do not say it like that.”
“What should I call it?”
“My child.”
Kiora stepped closer.
“The embryo was created from my egg and Adrian’s sample.”
“That is what Vivienne claims.”
“Is she wrong?”
Cassandra looked through the glass toward the secured interview room.
“She lies when the truth is inconvenient.”
“Were you implanted?”
“Yes.”
“Did you agree?”
Cassandra’s silence lasted too long.
Finally, she said, “Not at first.”
Kiora’s anger shifted.
“What does that mean?”
“My father told me I needed a medical procedure after an ovarian cyst. I woke up in a private clinic. Two weeks later, he told me what he had done.”
Adrian’s hands curled into fists.
“Victor assaulted you.”
Cassandra looked at him sharply.
“I do not need your pity.”
“It is not pity.”
“He said the child would protect my future.”
“He used your body to create leverage.”
“I know what he did.”
Her composure broke for one second.
Then she rebuilt it.
Kiora looked at Cassandra’s stomach.
A baby created from Kiora and Adrian’s genetic material was growing inside the woman who had struck Kiora beside a staircase.
The cruelty of the arrangement felt almost impossible to understand.
“How far along are you?” Kiora asked.
“Twenty-eight weeks.”
Two weeks behind Kiora.
“Why didn’t anyone notice?”
“I avoided public events. I wore structured clothing. My father controlled the medical records.”
“And you continued helping him.”
Cassandra’s eyes hardened.
“What choice did I have?”
“You had many choices before you attacked me.”
“I believed you had stolen everything.”
“My husband?”
“The company. Silas’s loyalty. The golden share. The life I was promised.”
“No one promised you my life.”
“My father did.”
Kiora shook her head.
“And after you learned he had lied?”
“I came here.”
Adrian moved toward Cassandra.
“Where is Victor?”
“I don’t know.”
“You escaped with his help.”
“No. One of Vivienne’s agents removed me from the building.”
“Why return?”
Cassandra placed a small drive on the table.
“Because my father sent me a message.”
Kiora picked it up.
“What is on this?”
“A list of medical facilities connected to the neonatal foundation. He plans to take both babies.”
Adrian’s expression became dangerous.
“Why both?”
“To force competing golden-share claims.”
“The share belongs to Kiora,” Silas said from the doorway.
Cassandra turned.
Silas entered slowly with Mara beside him.
“The succession has been completed,” he continued. “No child can challenge it unless Kiora dies before naming a successor.”
The implication settled over the room.
Victor planned to kill Kiora.
Adrian immediately called Owen.
“Lock down the building. No one leaves.”
Cassandra laughed bitterly.
“You still think walls protect people from my father?”
“They slow him down.”
“He has already entered.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What?” Kiora asked.
Cassandra pointed toward the ventilation system.
“He used the same network to move through the Halcyon and Blackridge. Every major Mercer building has hidden maintenance routes.”
Silas looked toward Mara.
“Seal the lower ventilation access.”
An alarm sounded.
The lights flickered.
Cassandra moved toward Kiora.
“Get away from the windows.”
A bullet shattered the glass behind them.
Adrian pulled Kiora down.
Mara pushed Silas behind the conference table.
A second shot struck the wall.
The shooter was positioned in another tower across the street.
Owen’s voice came through the security system.
“Sniper. East building. Stay down.”
Cassandra crouched beside Kiora.
“You believe me now?”
Kiora looked at her.
“You knew this would happen.”
“I knew my father would not allow us to speak.”
“Us?”
Cassandra held Kiora’s gaze.
“He wants both of us dead after the deliveries.”
Adrian crawled toward the wall panel and activated steel shutters.
The glass disappeared behind metal.
The room darkened.
Silas examined the drive Cassandra had brought.
“Can we verify the files?”
Mara connected it to an isolated computer.
A map appeared.
Seven private clinics.
Three maternity houses.
Two adoption agencies.
One refrigerated storage facility.
Samuel studied the names.
“These are redistribution sites.”
Kiora looked at him.
“For children?”
“For identities. Birth certificates. Genetic records. Custody documents.”
Lena entered with federal officers.
“We found the sniper’s room. It was empty except for a remote rifle.”
Cassandra gave a humorless smile.
“My father prefers not to risk loyal employees.”
“Is Victor working alone now?” Lena asked.
“No. He has people inside the Meridian Circle who believe Vivienne has failed.”
Vivienne’s voice came through the open doorway.
“She has never understood loyalty.”
Two agents escorted her into the boardroom.
Cassandra turned toward her.
“You knew what he did to me.”
“Yes.”
“You allowed it.”
“You wanted Adrian’s child.”
“Not like this.”
Vivienne studied Cassandra’s pregnancy.
“History rarely asks permission.”
Cassandra crossed the room and slapped her.
The sound echoed through the boardroom.
Agents moved forward.
Kiora raised a hand.
“Let her.”
Vivienne slowly touched her cheek.
“You have finally become interesting.”
Cassandra’s eyes filled with tears she refused to release.
“You treated me like a piece on a board.”
“You behaved like one.”
Silas stepped between them.
“The Meridian Circle is finished.”
Vivienne laughed.
“You have one ledger and a damaged film.”
“We have Benjamin Holloway’s evidence,” Lena said.
“Not the final page.”
Adrian held up the microfilm.
“And Elena’s succession files.”
“Corporate theft is not enough to convict the Circle’s leaders.”
Kiora looked at Cassandra.
“What did Victor send besides the clinic list?”
“A voice recording.”
“Play it.”
Cassandra hesitated.
Then she opened a file.
Victor’s voice filled the room.
Cassandra, if you are hearing this, Vivienne has lost control and Silas has activated the golden share. Go to Mercer headquarters. Pretend you want protection. When Kiora trusts you, use the medication inside the ring. It will induce labor within minutes.
Everyone looked at Cassandra’s hand.
She wore a large emerald ring.
Adrian drew his weapon.
Cassandra removed the ring slowly and placed it on the table.
“I came to warn you.”
“Why bring the ring?” Adrian demanded.
“Because my father said he would kill the baby if I refused.”
Kiora looked at her.
“Did you use it?”
“No.”
“Have you been near my food or water?”
“No.”
Mara examined the ring.
A needle was hidden beneath the setting.
The chamber was full.
Cassandra had not used it.
Adrian lowered his weapon slightly.
Victor’s recording continued.
After the injection, the emergency medical team will move Kiora to Clinic Seven. Do not interfere. Once both children are secured, you will receive control of the Voss accounts.
The message ended.
Lena looked at Cassandra.
“This is evidence of conspiracy.”
“It is also evidence I did not obey.”
“Why didn’t you give it to us immediately?”
“Because I needed to know whether Kiora would protect my child.”
Kiora stared at her.
“Your child?”
Cassandra’s hand moved over her stomach.
“I know the baby is genetically yours. I know Adrian is the father. But I have carried him for seven months. I have felt him move. I have spoken to him when no one else was there.”
“Him?” Adrian asked.
“A boy.”
Kiora’s emotions tangled painfully.
A son.
Their genetic son.
Cassandra’s carried child.
No court order could simplify what Victor had done.
“You want custody,” Kiora said.
“I want him safe.”
“From Victor?”
“From everyone who sees him as an inheritance.”
Silas looked at Cassandra differently.
“If you help us locate Victor, the child will be protected.”
Cassandra laughed bitterly.
“Protected by the man who hid Kiora’s father for thirty years?”
Silas accepted the blow without reaction.
Kiora stepped between them.
“No more bargains made around children.”
Everyone turned toward her.
“We stop Victor. We expose the clinics. We protect both babies. After that, custody will be decided based on what is best for the child—not the company, not the golden share, and not anyone’s revenge.”
Cassandra studied her.
“You would let me remain in his life?”
“I don’t know.”
It was the honest answer.
“But I will not punish a child for what Victor did.”
Cassandra’s face softened.
Then pain crossed it.
She placed both hands on her stomach.
Kiora recognized the expression immediately.
“Contraction?”
Cassandra shook her head.
Another pain hit.
Her knees buckled.
Kiora caught her.
Mara picked up the emerald ring.
“The chamber is empty.”
Everyone froze.
“It was full a moment ago,” Adrian said.
Mara examined the hidden needle.
“The mechanism was remotely activated.”
Cassandra gasped as fluid spread beneath her dress.
Her water had broken.
The ring had not injected Kiora.
May you like
It had injected Cassandra.
Victor had never intended to wait.
