Chapter 5: The Heir Returns

"Ah!"

Yvette's scream shattered the silence, the bullet a hair's breadth from piercing her flesh.

Yvette's face went pale, and she stumbled backward, collapsing onto the ground.

"Jayden!"

Someone had pulled me out of the water.

At the sound of that familiar voice, I mustered whatever strength I had left and opened my eyes tiredly.

The moment I saw my dad, the tears broke free. I sobbed, gasping for air as if I might suffocate.

Every inch of me throbbed with pain, like I had been steamrolled.

My father, Vincent White, dropped to one knee beside me. The man whose name could make half the criminal underworld fall silent was trembling as he reached for my face.

"Who did this to you?"

His voice was quiet.

That frightened everyone more than if he had shouted.

The Soldati surrounding the lake lowered their weapons but remained alert. Within seconds, the carefree atmosphere of the wedding venue had vanished. Men in black suits blocked every exit, and several guests backed away in terror.

Yvette stared at my father in confusion.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "Why did your men shoot at me? Do you know who I am?"

My father's eyes moved toward her.

I had seen that look before.

It was the expression he wore when deciding whether someone was worth keeping alive.

"You're asking who I am after trying to drown my son?"

Yvette's face stiffened.

"Your... son?"

Ethan, who had been standing several steps behind her, suddenly went pale.

Unlike Yvette, he seemed to recognize the name and the men surrounding us.

He grabbed Yvette's arm and whispered, "Yvette, don't say anything else."

She shook him off.

"Why shouldn't I? Jayden never told me anything about having a father like this!"

My father laughed coldly.

"Because my son gave up everything for you."

Yvette froze.

My father removed his coat and placed it around my shoulders while two of his men cut the ropes around my wrists.

Deep red marks circled my skin.

His expression darkened further when he saw them.

"Ten years," he murmured. "Ten years you refused to come home because of this woman."

Yvette looked between us.

"Come home? What are you talking about?"

I coughed violently, water burning its way out of my lungs.

My father immediately supported me.

"Don't talk," he ordered. "The doctor is coming."

But I shook my head.

There was something I needed to finish first.

I looked at Yvette.

She still wore the wedding dress I had spent a fortune having designed for her. The hem was stained with mud, and Ethan's ring still glittered on her finger.

Once, seeing her dressed as my bride would have been the happiest moment of my life.

Now I felt almost nothing.

"Yvette," I said hoarsely.

She took a step toward me.

"Jayden, tell these people to leave. This is between us. I was only trying to teach you a lesson. I wasn't actually going to let you drown."

My father surged to his feet.

"A lesson?"

Several Soldati immediately raised their weapons.

I caught my father's sleeve.

"Dad."

He looked down at me.

"Don't."

His jaw tightened, but after several seconds he raised one hand and ordered his men to stand down.

Yvette seemed to mistake my intervention for affection.

Relief crossed her face.

"See?" she said quickly. "I knew you wouldn't let anyone hurt me."

I stared at her.

"You still don't understand."

Her smile faded.

"I stopped them because the hundredth favor is finished. What happens to you now has nothing to do with me."

Yvette's lips parted.

"Jayden..."

"You wanted Ethan. I gave him to you."

I glanced toward the ring on Ethan's hand.

"That was number one hundred."

For the first time, Yvette seemed to remember.

Ten years earlier, I had lain half-dead in her family's home while enemies searched the city for me.

Yvette had given me blood when doctors said I might not survive.

When I recovered, I had held her hands and promised her one hundred things.

Anything she asked.

Anything within my power.

I had thought it was romantic.

I never imagined that one day I would be counting down those favors just so I could finally escape her.

Yvette shook her head frantically.

"No. That's not what I meant. Those favors were just something silly we said when we were young."

A weak laugh escaped me.

"Funny. They weren't silly when you needed them."

Her expression changed.

"Jayden, stop acting like this. We're getting married."

"No, we're not."

"You're angry."

"No."

"Then you're jealous of Ethan."

"Not anymore."

Those two words finally frightened her.

Yvette stared into my eyes as though desperately searching for the man who used to forgive everything she did.

He was gone.

My father helped me stand.

My legs nearly collapsed beneath me, but I forced myself upright.

A convoy of black cars was waiting beyond the garden.

Yvette looked at them, then at the armed men surrounding my father.

Her confusion slowly transformed into unease.

"Jayden... who exactly are you?"

Before I could answer, Ethan suddenly backed away.

My father's second-in-command noticed.

"Stop him."

Two men seized Ethan immediately.

"Let me go!" Ethan shouted. "I haven't done anything!"

My father looked at him.

"Ethan Carter. Former expedition leader. Thirty-two years old. Gambling debts in three cities. Two pending fraud investigations."

Yvette's eyes widened.

"That's a lie!"

Ethan's face drained of color.

My father continued, "You returned to this woman six months ago after learning that her company was receiving anonymous investments. You assumed she was wealthy."

"Stop!" Ethan yelled.

Yvette turned toward him.

"What is he talking about?"

Ethan said nothing.

My father smiled without warmth.

"Perhaps you should ask where her company's money actually came from."

Yvette slowly looked at me.

I could see the realization beginning to form.

"Jayden?"

I closed my eyes briefly.

For years, whenever Yvette's company faced trouble, I had quietly solved it.

When investors withdrew, new ones appeared.

When banks rejected her loans, approvals mysteriously came through the following morning.

When competitors tried to destroy her, they suddenly abandoned the market.

Yvette believed she had built an empire by herself.

I had been happy letting her believe it.

I loved seeing her proud.

That love had cost me more than she would ever know.

"It was you?" she whispered.

I opened my eyes.

"It doesn't matter anymore."

"Jayden, wait."

She hurried toward me, but my father's men blocked her path.

"Move!" she screamed. "He's my fiancé!"

I stopped beside the car.

Without turning around, I answered her.

"Ex-fiancé."

Silence fell.

"And about your pregnancy," I continued, "don't ever attach my name to that child."

Yvette went white.

"Jayden..."

"You know who the father is."

Ethan immediately shouted, "Don't drag me into this!"

Yvette spun toward him in disbelief.

"Ethan?"

He avoided her eyes.

That single reaction seemed to hurt her more than anything I could have said.

I should have felt satisfied.

Instead, I was exhausted.

My father opened the car door.

"Come home, son."

Home.

The word felt strange.

For ten years, home had meant Yvette.

Her laughter.

Her arms around me.

The little apartment where she once hid me from men who wanted me dead.

But that home had disappeared long before today.

I lowered myself into the car.

Yvette suddenly broke free from the man blocking her and ran toward me.

"Jayden!"

She grabbed the door before it could close.

Tears filled her eyes.

"You can't leave like this. Ten years can't end because of Ethan!"

I looked at her hand gripping the door.

Then I looked into her eyes.

"You're right."

Hope flashed across her face.

"Ten years didn't end because of Ethan."

Her expression faltered.

"They ended because of you."

I gently removed her fingers from the door.

"Goodbye, Yvette."

The door closed.

She pounded against the window as the car began moving.

I never looked back.

Half an hour later, the convoy entered a private airfield.

A jet waited on the runway beneath the darkening sky.

My father sat opposite me while a doctor treated the wounds around my wrists and listened to my chest.

"You need a hospital," the doctor said.

"Later," my father replied.

He kept staring at me.

Finally, he placed a black velvet box on the table between us.

I recognized it immediately.

The White family crest was stamped into the lid.

"I kept it," he said.

I opened the box.

Inside was the signet ring I had abandoned ten years ago.

The symbol of the family's successor.

My father leaned back.

"You called yesterday and said you were ready for the succession ceremony. I thought I'd have to convince you not to change your mind."

I lifted the ring.

For years, I had feared putting it back on.

It represented everything I had tried to leave behind.

Power.

Blood.

Responsibility.

The White family.

Now, strangely, my hand did not tremble.

I slid the ring onto my finger.

It still fit perfectly.

My father's eyes softened.

"Welcome back, Jayden."

I stared through the window at the wedding venue disappearing far behind us.

My phone vibrated.

Yvette.

Then again.

And again.

Twenty-three missed calls appeared before I switched the phone off.

I had spent ten years answering whenever she called.

That night, for the first time, I let the phone go silent.

Tomorrow, Jayden White would officially return to the family he had abandoned.

And Yvette Jenkins would finally learn what happened when the man she had taken for granted stopped protecting her.