Chapter 3 - The Billionaire Who Knelt
The guests closest to Adrian stepped backward.
No one had ever seen him kneel before anyone.
Not before politicians.
Not before foreign royals.
Not even during the ceremonies honoring his father after the king’s death.
Yet Adrian now rested one knee on the marble floor in front of a frightened child wearing a repaired dress.
“Where did you get that?” he asked.
Lily remembered Miriam’s warning.
Your mother trusted Adrian once. That does not mean he deserves your trust now.
She held the hairpin tightly.
“My mommy gave it to me.”
“What is her name?”
“Elena Vale.”
Adrian’s eyes closed for a moment.
When he opened them, Lily saw grief beneath the shock.
“What did she look like?”
“She had black hair. She always wore it in one braid when she cooked because she said seven braids took too long.”
The corner of Adrian’s mouth moved, but the expression was not quite a smile.
“She hated waiting.”
“She also hated pears.”
“She told everyone she was allergic to them.”
“She was not?”
“No. She simply hated them.”
Lily stared at him.
That was a secret only someone close to Elena would know.
Adrian looked at the hairpin again.
“May I see it?”
“My mother said I could only give it to the man who recognized the flower.”
“It is not a flower.”
“What is it?”
“The crowned lily. My mother designed the crest after Elena was born.”
Adrian extended his open hand.
Lily slowly placed the pin on his palm.
He turned it over.
The royal engraving was hidden beneath the clasp.
“My sister had seven,” he whispered. “One for each year she lived in the old palace.”
Lily gathered the remaining pins.
“She said her brother would remember the song.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“What song?”
Lily hummed four notes.
A memory returned to Adrian with such force that the ballroom seemed to disappear.
He saw a dark palace nursery.
Rain against the windows.
His mother seated at the piano.
Elena, only six years old, laughing as Adrian placed silver flowers through her braids.
Their mother’s voice had carried the same four notes.
Adrian pressed the clasp in rhythm.
The hairpin opened.
The miniature photograph appeared first.
Adrian saw himself, Elena, and Queen Amara standing in the palace garden.
Behind the photograph was a folded message.
Brother, if Lily has reached you, then they have found me.
Do not trust the emerald.
The Crown Ledger was never destroyed.
The seventh pin carries the final name.
Adrian read the words twice.
Then he lifted his eyes toward Celeste.
Her hand had risen to the emerald brooch.
“What does it say?” Lily asked.
Adrian folded the message.
“It says your mother needs us.”
The ballroom lights went out.
Guests screamed.
Adrian reached for Lily.
A hand caught her shoulder first.
Lily was pulled backward.
“Uncle Adrian!”
Emergency lights flashed red.
Adrian saw the gray-haired man behind her.
“Lucien.”
Lucien Vane held Lily against his coat. His expression was calm, almost affectionate.
“It has been a long time, Your Highness.”
Adrian lunged forward.
Lucien pushed Lily toward someone hidden near the curtains.
That person lifted the child into their arms and ran.
For one second, the red light crossed the stranger’s face.
Adrian froze.
The man carrying Lily had the same long scar across his cheek as King Edmund Ashbourne.
Their father.
The father Adrian and Elena had watched being buried eighteen years earlier.
The lights returned.
The curtains were moving, but Lily and the stranger were gone.
Adrian grabbed Lucien by the collar.
“Where is she?”
Lucien did not resist.
“Your father asked the same question when Elena disappeared.”
“My father is dead.”
“Are you certain?”
Security Chief Theo Mercer rushed toward them with four officers.
Adrian shoved Lucien against the wall.
“Lock every exit.”
Lucien smiled.
“Too late.”
A child’s cry echoed from behind the orchestra platform.
Adrian released Lucien and ran.
He found Lily crouched beneath a table, gripping Miriam’s leather bag.
Theo pulled back the curtain.
No one else was there.
Adrian knelt beside Lily.
“Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head.
“The man carried me behind the curtain. Then he whispered something and put me down.”
“What did he say?”
Lily’s face had become pale.
“He said my grandmother was waiting.”
Adrian looked at the empty passage.
“Your grandmother died before you were born.”
“He said everyone believed that because you buried the wrong queen.”
Across the ballroom, Lucien Vane had disappeared.
So had Celeste.
Adrian turned to Theo.
“Find them.”
Theo hesitated.
“Sir, the police have arrived.”
“Who called them?”
A voice came from the ballroom entrance.
“I did.”
Celeste stood beside the city’s police commissioner.
May you like
She pointed toward Adrian.
“He attacked my father and attempted to abduct this child.”
