Page 89 of Secret Heir

Alexander leans down, his voice dropping to something deadly. “Because if you don’t—if you breathe one word about that warehouse and what you heard—I’ll make sure that little boy of yours has an accident. Children are so fragile, Aria. So easy to hurt. Falls, drownings, sudden illnesses. Terrible things happen to children every day.”

Rage floods through me, cutting through the terror. “Don’t you dare⁠—”

“And that baby you’re carrying?” His eyes drop to my stomach, to the small swell visible through my sundress and I want to cover it from his view. “As I said before, pregnancy is dangerous. So many things can go wrong especially with the right…encouragement."

I’m on my feet now, shaking with fury and fear in equal measure.

Alexander straightens, brushing invisible lint from his sleeve. “Stay quiet, Aria. For your children’s sake. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to them because their mother couldn’t keep secrets, would we?”

He leans in one more time, his breath hot against my ear. “I’ve killed people for less than what you know. The only reason you’re still breathing is because killing you would upset Maksim, and I need him functional. But children die all the time, and pregnant women lose babies. Those deaths wouldn’t be on him. They’d just be…tragic accidents.”

Then he’s gone—walking back toward the house like nothing happened. Like he didn’t just threaten to murder my children.

I sink back onto the bench, my legs giving out. He knows. He’s always known. And now he’s threatened Daniel and this baby directly.

I sit there for five full minutes before I can move and think past the terror and rage and knowledge that Alexander Morozov won’t let me live.

Even if I stay quiet, I’m a witness. Eventually—when his plot against Nikolai is ready again and he doesn’t need Maksim functional anymore—he’ll eliminate the threat I represent.

Running is the only option. I need to take Daniel and disappear before Alexander can hurt them.

I’ve done it before. I can do it again.

I have to.

That night, I wait until Maksim and Daniel are both asleep.

Maksim didn’t speak to me at dinner. In fact, he barely looked at me. The fight from last night is still fresh between us, and I can see the hurt and frustration in every tense line of his body.

Good. Letting him be angry makes leaving easier.

I pack light—just a backpack with essentials. Cash I’ve been hoarding from the household money Maksim gives me. Daniel’s rabbit. A change of clothes for both of us. My phone, though I’ll have to ditch it as soon as we’re far enough away.

Daniel wakes when I lift him from bed, groggy and confused. “Mama?”

“Shh, baby. We’re going on an adventure.” I keep my voice light even though I’m terrified. “But we have to be very, very quiet. Can you do that for me?”

He nods, still half-asleep, and lets me dress him in dark clothes. He puts on his shoes without asking questions.

Such a good boy. Such a trusting, sweet, good boy who deserves better than this.

We make it down the stairs and through the kitchen, to the side door that leads to the garden.

I know the security patterns now. I know that the guards do a sweep of the grounds every hour, and we’re in the fifteen-minute window between patrols. The cameras in this section have a blind spot near the east wall.

If I can just get us over that wall, we can disappear into the night.

We’re halfway across the lawn when the floodlights snap on, bright as daylight.

“Fuck,” I breathe, grabbing Daniel’s hand and running for the wall.

“Mama?” Daniel is scared, his eyes wide with fear. “What’s happening?”

“Run, baby. Just run.”

I can hear shouting behind us and footsteps pound across the grass. I can hear a voice calling for backup.

We’re so close. Ten more feet to the wall. Five more feet. One⁠—