part 3
PART 3
At first, Lily screamed.
She screamed until the wind stole her voice. She pounded on the metal service door until her knuckles split. She tried to look through the small frosted window, but the lights inside blurred into gold smears behind the snow.
“Please!” she cried. “Please, open the door!”
No one came.
Her thin uniform was soaked within minutes. Her black flats filled with freezing slush. The cold bit through her tights, through her skin, into her bones. She stumbled toward the garage, but the storm spun her around. The estate grounds she had crossed every day became a white maze.
She thought of her father in his small apartment near Bridgeport. She thought of Serena’s whisper.
My men are already on their way.
Lily tried to run, but her legs moved like they belonged to someone else. The fountain appeared out of nowhere, a dark shape in the blizzard. She reached for it, missed, and fell into the snow.
The world became strangely quiet.
Warmth spread through her body, false and deadly. She saw her mother’s face. She heard Christmas music. She thought maybe, if she slept for one minute, she could stand again.
Inside the mansion, Adrian carried her back from that white grave with a fury that shook the house.
Dr. Malcolm Reed, the private physician on duty for the dinner, rushed to the sofa and began emergency warming procedures. Staff members ran for heated blankets, medical bags, warm fluids. Adrian knelt beside Lily, rubbing her frozen hands between his own.
“Come back,” he said under his breath. “Lily, come back.”
Serena made the mistake of speaking.
“She caused a scene, Adrian. She stole from my family.”
Adrian stood.
His tuxedo shirt was wet from snow. His hair was disordered. His hands were red from digging through ice. Every polished inch of him had cracked open, and what came out terrified the room.
He took Serena’s wrist and lifted her hand.
The missing ring glittered there.
A murmur passed through the table.
Serena tried to pull away. “I found it after—”
“You wore it the entire time,” Adrian said.
Victor Vale stood, furious. “Careful, Hawthorne.”
Adrian looked at him. “Your daughter attempted murder under my roof.”
“She is my blood.”
“And Lily was under my protection.”
“She is a maid.”
Adrian’s voice dropped. “No. She is the woman your daughter left to die.”
Guns came out across the room. Hawthorne men. Vale men. Old allies who had been laughing over dessert now aimed weapons at each other beneath Christmas garlands and candlelight.
Dr. Reed shouted, “If this room erupts, she dies!”
The words cut through Adrian.
He lowered his gun first, but his eyes never left Victor.
“The engagement is over,” Adrian said. “The alliance is dead. Take your daughter and leave my house before I decide mercy was a mistake.”
Serena’s face twisted. “You would destroy everything over her?”
Adrian stepped close enough for only her to hear.
“No, Serena. You destroyed everything when you thought cruelty was power.”
Victor Vale backed down because he could count. He had twelve men in a Hawthorne fortress surrounded by forty. Pride was expensive; death was final.
Within minutes, the Vale family was gone, their black SUVs disappearing into the storm.
But Adrian knew the war had already begun.
He returned to Lily’s side.
For four hours, he did not move. He watched the doctor work. He listened to Lily’s weak breathing. He prayed, though he had not spoken to God since he was a child.
At 3:08 a.m., Lily opened her eyes.
She panicked immediately, trying to sit up.
Adrian caught her gently. “You’re inside. You’re safe.”
Her eyes focused on him. “Mr. Hawthorne?”
“Adrian,” he said. “Call me Adrian.”
A tear slid down her cheek. “My father.”
Adrian went still.
Lily gripped his sleeve. “Serena said her men were going to him. She said he would pay too.”
The softness vanished from Adrian’s face.
He looked toward his underboss, Cole Mercer, standing by the fireplace.
“Find Russell Carter,” Adrian ordered. “Now.”
Cole nodded once and left.
Lily began to tremble again. Adrian wrapped the blanket tighter around her shoulders.
“You saved me,” she whispered.
Adrian looked at the fire, unable to answer.
May you like
Because he had saved her too late.
And someone inside his own house had helped Serena do it.
