Chapter 5

The bulletproof Maybach glided smoothly through the massive iron gates of the Yates family estate.

Inside the luxurious rear cabin, the atmosphere was suffocatingly cold.

Geovanni sat stiffly against the leather seat. His small hands were folded in his lap, tightly clutching the lavender-scented tissue. He stared blankly at the floor.

The car stopped in front of the main mansion. The butler opened the door, and Geovanni walked silently into the grand foyer, heading straight for the primary study.

The heavy oak doors of the study were pushed open.

Jake Yates sat behind a massive mahogany desk. He wore a dark, tailored suit, his tie loosened slightly at the collar. The air around him was freezing, radiating an intense, oppressive low pressure.

He looked up. His dark, piercing eyes locked onto his son.

"Explain yourself," Jake demanded. His voice was a harsh, unforgiving whip crack in the quiet room. "Why did you evade your security detail at the airport? Do you realize the danger you put yourself in? You made a mockery of this family's security protocols."

Geovanni's jaw tightened. He stubbornly pressed his lips together. He refused to look at his father. Instead, his eyes darted to the woman standing next to Jake's desk, glaring at her with pure, unmasked hostility.

Bella Lucas stood there, wearing a modest, elegant pastel dress. She was playing the role of the gentle, concerned mother perfectly.

Seeing Geovanni, Bella took a step forward. She put on a look of deep distress and reached out her hand to stroke his hair.

"Oh, Geo, you had Mommy so worried," Bella cooed.

The moment her fingers came within an inch of him, Geovanni flinched violently. He jerked his body backward as if she were made of toxic acid, avoiding her touch completely.

Bella's hand froze in mid-air. A flash of vicious, ugly hatred sparked in her eyes, but she suppressed it instantly. She pulled her hand back and looked at Jake with a pathetic, wounded expression.

Jake ignored Bella's performance entirely. His patience with Geovanni's defiance was gone.

"Since you refuse to cooperate," Jake said coldly, slamming his expensive fountain pen onto the desk. "All of your Lego sets are confiscated. You will remain in your room until you learn how to follow orders."

Tears welled up in Geovanni's eyes, but he bit his lip, refusing to let them fall. He spun around and ran out of the study.

The butler, who had been standing nervously by the door, cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"Sir," the butler said cautiously. "At the airport, we encountered a woman. She possessed a remarkable ability to calm the young master. He clung to her. Perhaps we could hire her as a private tutor or counselor for him."

Jake let out a short, dark laugh. He leaned back in his leather chair.

"Absolutely not," Jake said, his voice dripping with cynical disdain. "A random woman conveniently appears at the exact moment my son runs off, and miraculously knows exactly how to soothe him? It is a setup. Another pathetic scam by someone trying to leach off the Yates wealth."

He turned his sharp gaze to his chief assistant, Alex, who stood quietly in the corner.

"Alex," Jake ordered. "Double the bounty on the dark web. I want the international trauma specialist, 'Dr. Cici,' found immediately. Raise the reward to ten million dollars. Only a verified, world-class authority will treat my son. Not some opportunistic grifter."

Bella's chest tightened with jealousy. Jake was willing to spend ten million dollars on a stranger, yet he treated her like an employee. She stepped closer to the desk, trying to leverage her position.

"Jake," Bella said softly, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. "You don't need to spend that kind of money. I am his mother. I can spend more time with him. He doesn't need a psychologist; he just needs me."

Jake slowly raised his head. His eyes were like two shards of black ice. He stared at Bella, stripping away her facade with a single look.

"Know your place, Bella," Jake said, his voice dangerously low. "Our engagement is a business transaction. A mutually beneficial corporate merger. Do not mistake it for affection, and do not presume you have any authority over how I raise my son."

Bella's face drained of all color. The brutal humiliation felt like a physical slap. Her fingernails dug painfully into her palms, but she did not dare speak a word of defiance.

"Get out," Jake dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "I have to clean up the financial mess your father's company just created."

Bella turned and walked out of the study, her cheeks burning with shame.

As she stepped into the long, carpeted hallway, she stopped.

Geovanni was standing half-hidden behind a marble pillar. He was looking at her. His dark eyes were completely devoid of emotion, staring at her with a cold, piercing awareness that saw right through her soul.

Bella's mask of the gentle mother shattered completely.

She marched over to him, leaning down until her face was inches from his.

"Listen to me, you little freak," Bella hissed, her voice a venomous whisper. "If you don't start behaving and pretending to like me, I will have you locked away in a mental asylum for the rest of your life."

Geovanni did not flinch. He slowly raised the small whiteboard he carried with him everywhere.

On the board, drawn with a black marker in jagged, childish strokes, was a picture of a blurry, faceless woman reaching out from a sea of dark, jagged lines, while a tiny baby was snatched away by a monstrous claw. It was a manifestation of his deepest subconscious trauma, an innate nightmare he had carried since the day he was separated from his mother.

Bella saw the drawing.

Her breath hitched. A cold sweat broke out over her entire body. The memory of the Queens basement, the way she had ripped the infant away, and the roaring fire she had started to cover her tracks crashed into her mind. She looked at the five-year-old boy in absolute terror. She stumbled backward, her heels catching on the carpet, and practically ran down the hallway to escape him.

Miles away, in the heart of the city, inside a sleek, high-rise luxury apartment.

Alisson stood at the open kitchen island, calmly slicing a red tomato.

Jovany sat on a tall barstool across from her. He was eating a bowl of salad with one hand. His other hand was flying across the screen of his tablet. Displayed on the glass was the highly classified internal network topology of the Yates Corporation.

"Mommy," Jovany said casually, popping a cherry tomato into his mouth. "The hacker forums are going crazy. The Yates family just doubled the bounty. Ten million dollars for anyone who can locate 'Dr. Cici'."

Alisson's knife stopped mid-slice.

A cold, mocking smile touched the corners of her lips.

"They could offer a billion dollars, Jovany," Alisson said, her voice flat and hard. "I will never work for Jake Yates. I will not lift a finger to help the man who is engaged to Bella Lucas."