The Billionaire's Revenge Bride

Chapter Four

The sirens faded into the distance as Lucian’s private helicopter ascended from the scorched lawn of the Prescott estate. Below, the flickering orange embers of the basement fire looked like a dying star.

I sat huddled in the leather seat, a plush cashmere blanket wrapped around me and Trisha. The young girl had fallen into a fitful sleep against my side, exhausted by the terror. Across from them, Lucian sat in shadow, his silhouette sharp against the glass as the city lights of Los Angeles twinkled 5,000 feet below.

“Where are we going?” my voice was barely a whisper. “The police, they’ll want statements. Nora is in custody, and Tobias.”

“Tobias is currently being processed at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility,” Lucian interrupted, his voice devoid of emotion. “My legal team is already filing the mountain of evidence I’ve spent six years collecting. He won’t be seeing the sun from outside a cage for a very long time.”

He leaned forward, the cabin lights catching the predatory glint in his eyes. “As for the police, they know exactly where to find us. But tonight, you aren't a witness. You’re a guest of Knight Holdings.”

The helicopter banked sharply over the coastline, heading toward a monolith of black glass that pierced the clouds. Knights Tower. The top five floors were Lucian’s private residence, a fortress of steel and silk.

When they landed on the rooftop helipad, the wind whipped my hair across my face. Lucian stepped out and reached for Trisha, handing her gently to a waiting nanny, a woman with a kind face and alert eyes.

“Take her to her suite, Kelly,” Lucian commanded. “And bring Ava to the nursery. I want both girls under a twenty-four-hour guard.”

My heart skipped. “Ava? You… you had my daughter brought here?”

“I told you, Lily,” Lucian said, walking toward the glass elevator. “Under my roof, they are safe. Under Tobias’s, they were bait.”

The elevator plummeted to the penthouse level. The doors opened to a living space that felt more like a gallery than a home. Floor-to-ceiling windows offered a 360-degree view of the Pacific Ocean. The furniture was minimalist, dark, and impossibly expensive.

Lucian walked to a sleek bar and poured two fingers of amber liquid. He didn't offer me a drink. He drank it in one swallow, his back to me.

“Six years,” he murmured, staring at his reflection in the glass. “Six years I spent imagining the look on your face when the truth came out. I thought seeing you broken would be the final piece of my revenge.”

I stepped forward, my heels clicking on the polished marble floor. “And is it? Are you satisfied, Lucian? You’ve taken my home, my husband, and my secrets. What else is left to burn?”

Lucian turned slowly. He didn't look satisfied. He looked haunted. He crossed the room in three strides, pinning me against the cold glass of the window. The ocean roared silently beneath them.

“I’m not satisfied because the woman who stood in that courtroom six years ago wasn't a villain,” he hissed, his hand coming up to rest against the window beside her head. “She was a puppet. And the woman standing in front of me now… she’s something far more dangerous.”

“What am I, Lucian?”

“You’re a daily reminder of the life I lost,” he growled, his face inches from hers. “And the only woman who makes me forget the oath I took.”

The tension between us snapped like a high-tension wire. Lucian didn't wait for permission. He crashed his lips against mine, a kiss that tasted of bourbon, smoke, and years of suppressed rage. It wasn't a gentle request; it was a claim.

My first instinct was to fight, but the adrenaline of the night and the sheer magnetic pull of the man overwhelmed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my fingers tangling in his dark hair, pulling him closer. For five years, I had been a "trophy" for a man who didn't want me. For the first time, I felt wanted with a hunger that terrified me.

Lucian pulled back just an inch, his breath ragged. “I should hate you. Every time I look at you, I see the face of the lawyer who let Evelyn’s killer walk.”

“Then why are you holding me?” I challenged myself, my eyes wet with unshed tears.

“Because the only thing stronger than my hate,” he whispered, his thumb tracing the line of my jaw, “is my need to own the woman who took everything from me.”

He stepped back, regaining his cold composure as if the kiss had never happened. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold keycard, sliding it across the marble countertop.

“This gives you access to the entire tower. You are free to move, but you are not free to leave. Tomorrow, you will sign the formal divorce papers for Tobias. And then, we begin the second phase of the plan.”

“The second phase?”

Lucian’s smirk was lethal. “Tobias’s company is bleeding, but it’s not dead. He’s going to attempt a ‘Hail Mary’ move from jail, he’s going to claim he’s the victim of a corporate hit. We’re going to prove him right. But first, there’s someone you need to meet.”

He walked to a heavy mahogany door at the end of the hall, the only one that required a biometric scan. He pressed his scarred palm to the sensor.

The door swung open to reveal a room filled with monitors, maps, and high-tech equipment. It looked like a war room. In the center was a large table with a recycled motorcycle frame sitting on it, a BMW S 1000 RR, polished to a mirror shine.

“This was her bike,” Lucian said softly. “I’ve spent years rebuilding it. It’s a reminder that justice isn't given, Lily. It’s taken.”

He turned to a large screen on the wall. It was a live legal document.

“I’ve already reinstated your law license with the board,” he said. “But you won't be practicing for anyone else. You are now the Chief Legal Officer of Knight Holdings. Your first task? Defending the man you just spent the night with.”

I frowned. “Defending you? What?”

Lucian’s eyes darkened. “A murder charge. Six years ago, after the trial, the driver who took the fall for Nora, the ‘scapegoat’ you defended? He didn't just disappear, Lily.”

A chill swept through the room as Lucian hit a button on the remote. A police report appeared on the screen, dated two years ago.

“He was found at the bottom of the canyon. And the prime suspect? Me.”

I gasped, my legal mind racing. “You… you killed him?”

Lucian walked toward me, his silhouette blocking out the Pacific horizon. “That’s what you’re going to help me prove I didn't do. Because if I go down, Tobias wins. And your daughters lose the only protection they have left.”

It wasn't the accusation. It was the realization that Lucian hadn't just brought Lily here to be his lover or his weapon. He had brought her here to be his alibi.

Just then, his phone chimed. He looked at the message and his jaw tightened.

“The board has called an emergency meeting. Tobias’s secret backers have surfaced. And Lily, you’re not going to believe who’s leading them.”

He turned the phone toward her. A photo of a woman appeared. It was Nora.