Chapter 5

Kennard caught the keys against his chest. His knuckles bled white as he gripped the metal. The script in his head screamed at him to throw the woman out, to protect his territory, but his legs refused to move.

Katherine did not wait for his permission.

She turned her back on him and walked to the far corner of the study. A standalone terminal sat on a sleek glass table, completely disconnected from the mansion's main network. It was the physical access point to the Blackburn family's encrypted core servers.

Kennard's eyes widened. "Step away from that machine," he barked, his voice cracking. "That is restricted. Dusty doesn't even have clearance."

Katherine ignored him. She hit the power button. The screen flared to life, displaying a blank black command prompt.

Her fingers flew across the mechanical keyboard. She didn't pause to think. She typed a string of thirty-six characters-a chaotic mix of Latin phrases, numbers, and special symbols that she had memorized twelve years ago.

A massive red warning box flashed on the screen: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS. INITIATING LOCKDOWN.

Kennard lunged around the desk, ready to physically pull her away.

Before he could reach her, the red box vanished. The screen turned a solid, calming green. Bold white text appeared in the center of the monitor.

Welcome back, Founder K.W.

The silent alarm that had triggered in the security room instantly deactivated.

Kennard froze mid-step. His breathing stopped. Dusty, standing near the desk, let out a low, strangled gasp. The core system was unhackable. It required biometric spoofing and a password that only one dead woman knew.

Katherine casually closed the laptop lid. She turned around and looked at Kennard, her expression bored.

"Do we still need to go to the hospital to verify my biology, or are we done playing games?"

Kennard swallowed hard. His throat bobbed. The absolute certainty of his reality was crumbling beneath his feet. He looked at the green light on the closed laptop, then back at her face.

"Dusty," Kennard rasped, his voice sounding like crushed glass. "Bring the car around. VIP entrance."

Thirty minutes later, the black Maybach glided out of the estate.

The ride to Cedars-Sinai was suffocatingly quiet. Kennard sat rigidly, staring out the tinted window. Katherine sat beside him, her posture perfectly straight.

The Maybach descended into the underground VIP parking structure of the hospital.

Kennard stepped out first. He scanned the concrete pillars, his security instincts momentarily overriding the script. He walked around the rear of the car and opened Katherine's door. As she stepped out, his hand automatically hovered over the doorframe to protect her head-a muscle memory ingrained in him since childhood.

They walked side-by-side toward the private elevator banks.

Just as the metal doors began to slide open, a violent burst of white light flashed from behind a concrete pillar fifty feet away.

Click-click-click.

Two men dressed in gray janitorial uniforms lowered their long-lens cameras and sprinted toward the exit ramp.

Kennard's security detail immediately broke into a run, chasing them down, but it was too late. One of the paparazzi had a wireless transmitter attached to his rig. The photos were already gone.

Fifteen minutes later, Katherine sat in a sterile white room, allowing a doctor to swab the inside of her cheek.

Outside in the hallway, Kennard paced. His phone vibrated violently in his pocket.

He pulled it out. The screen was flooded with notifications. He opened Twitter.

TMZ had just dropped an exclusive. The headline screamed across the screen in bold red letters: SHOCKER! ICE-COLD BILLIONAIRE KENNARD BLACKBURN SPOTTED AT CEDARS-SINAI MATERNITY WARD WITH MYSTERY WOMAN. SHOTGUN WEDDING?

Below the headline was a high-resolution photo of Kennard holding the car door for Katherine. Because she looked twelve years younger than her actual age, and was wearing an oversized coat, the media had instantly branded her as a pregnant mistress.

The hashtag KennardBlackburnsMysteryWoman was already trending at number one.

Kennard's phone screen switched to an incoming call. The caller ID flashed his sister's name: Kennedi.

He answered it, bringing the phone to his ear.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?!" Kennedi's voice shrieked through the speaker, so loud it echoed in the quiet hallway. "A pregnant gold-digger? You're dragging some cheap whore into the family while Brittnie is at home crying?"

Kennard pinched the bridge of his nose. "Kennedi, shut up. It's not what you think. This is a highly complex situation and I will explain it to you later when you've calmed down."

"If you bring that bitch into our house, I will burn it to the ground!" Kennedi screamed, completely hysterical.

The door to the examination room opened.

Katherine stepped out. She stopped in the doorway. The acoustics of the hallway carried every vile word of her daughter's rant directly to her ears.

A flicker of profound sadness crossed Katherine's eyes. The script hadn't just ruined her son; it had turned her sweet daughter into a vicious, brainwashed pawn.

Kennard saw Katherine listening. Panic flared in his chest. He immediately hit the end call button, cutting his sister off mid-scream. He shoved the phone into his pocket, his face flushing with a mix of shame and anger.

Katherine didn't say a word. She just looked up at the wall-mounted television in the waiting area. A news anchor was already discussing the TMZ photos.

The storm had broken.