TOO LATE MR.BILLIONAIRE

THE WILL

Ethan showed up at eight, still in his work clothes, tie gone, top button undone, looking like a man who'd been arguing with someone for hours and lost.

"You look worse than this morning," Sophia said, stepping back to let him in.

"Long day."

"Longer than mine?"

"Debatable." He dropped onto her couch like his legs had finally given out. "My grandfather called an emergency meeting. Lawyers, accountants, the works."

"About what?"

Ethan rubbed both hands over his face. "About you. About the baby."

Sophia sat down slowly across from him, every muscle in her body suddenly on alert. "How does Richard even know?"

"My mother told him. Probably an hour after she finished threatening you."

"Great," Sophia muttered. "Love that for me."

That got a small, tired laugh out of him, gone almost as fast as it came. "There's a clause in my father's will. I never paid attention to it because it never mattered before. It's about succession. About who inherits controlling interest in Kingsley Group."

"Okay."

"If I have a biological child before I turn thirty five, that child becomes first in line for inheritance. Ahead of any child from a future marriage. Ahead of anyone."

Sophia blinked. "Ahead of Isabella's future kids, you mean."

"Exactly."

"So your daughter..." The word still felt strange in her mouth, huge and terrifying and real. "She'd inherit everything. Not whatever child you'd have with Isabella."

"Yes."

"That's why your mother wants me gone so badly." The pieces clicked into place with an audible, sickening click, like a lock turning somewhere in Sophia's chest. "It was never really about the scandal. It's about money. Control. Keeping everything in the family the way she planned it."

"There's more."

"There's more?"

Ethan leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and when he looked up at her his eyes were dark with something that looked almost like fear. "My grandfather wants a paternity test done immediately. Before the birth, if possible. He wants it confirmed, notarized, filed with the estate lawyers."

"Why does that matter right now? The baby's not even born yet."

"Because if it's confirmed early, my mother can't quietly make the pregnancy disappear before anyone else finds out it exists." Ethan's jaw worked, and for a second Sophia saw something in his face she hadn't seen since his father's funeral. Real fear. Not for himself. "I don't trust her, Sophia. Not after today. Not after the lease, the investigator, all of it. I think she's capable of something worse than an NDA if she thinks it'll fix this quietly."

The room went cold.

"You think your own mother would try to hurt me."

"I think my mother has spent thirty years believing the ends justify almost anything," Ethan said quietly. "And I am not willing to bet your safety, or my daughter's, on almost."

Sophia wrapped both arms around herself, the fear finally catching up to the anger that had been carrying her all day. "So what do we do?"

"We get ahead of it." Ethan reached into his jacket, pulled out a folded document, set it gently on the coffee table between them, nothing like the check from that morning. This one he didn't slide toward her like a transaction. He just set it down and waited. "My lawyer drew this up an hour ago. It puts you under Kingsley Group's legal protection. Any attempt to interfere with your business, your housing, your safety, becomes actionable. Immediately. No loopholes."

"Ethan..."

"I know you don't want anything from me. I know. But this isn't charity, this is me finally doing something instead of just apologizing." His voice cracked slightly on the last word. "Let me do this one thing right."

Sophia looked down at the document. Looked back up at him.

"And Isabella? The merger? Your family?"

"I'm ending the engagement tomorrow morning."

"Ethan, the eleven thousand jobs—"

"There are other paths to save those jobs that don't involve marrying a stranger to please my mother." His voice was steady now, certain in a way she hadn't heard from him in years. "I should have found them the first time instead of just doing what I was told."

Sophia's phone buzzed on the table between them, cutting through the moment like a blade.

Unknown number again.

She hesitated, then answered, putting it on speaker without thinking.

"Miss Bennett." A man's voice this time, unfamiliar, clipped and professional in a way that made her skin crawl instantly. "My name is Marcus Wells. I'm a reporter with the Metro Herald. I'm calling for comment on a story we're running tomorrow morning."

"I don't have any comment on anything."

"It's regarding your pregnancy," Marcus said, "and allegations that you attempted to extort the Kingsley family for a paternity payout."

Sophia's blood went to ice.

Ethan shot up off the couch. "Give me the phone."

"Who told you that," Sophia said, voice shaking now, no longer able to hide it. "Who gave you that story."

"I'm not able to disclose my source," Marcus said smoothly. "But I do have documentation. Emails. A signed statement. Would you like to comment before we go to print in the morning?"

Sophia looked up at Ethan, and the look on his face told her he already knew exactly whose fingerprints were all over this.

"Your mother," she whispered.

"She's not just threatening you anymore," Ethan said, low and furious. "She's already pulling the trigger."