"My Babies!" Elena yelled.
Arthur stood frozen. Every thought in his head screamed at him to jump into the flames, to save what he could. Then movement caught his eye.
Marie, the nanny, stumbled out from the smoke, coughing violently, her face was covered in ashes. Her arms cradled two small bundles.
"The twins!" He shouted. Elena raced towards the nanny.
Althea. Adrien. They were asleep. Safe.
Arthur didn't cheer. He couldn't. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel. He had gone numb to everything happening around him. Just when he thought it couldn't get worse, something far worse landed in his lap.
He looked down the driveway, as rain began to pour. His jaw clenched until his teeth ground together.
"They are not going to stop," he rasped, voice breaking under the weight of everything. "This… this house was just the beginning. If we take them with us, they're dead. Everyone is dead."
Elena grabbed his arm, her grip fierce despite the trembling in her hands. Her eyes were red, traced with tears. "No," she said, her voice cracking, "we aren't leaving them. Arthur, don't you dare—"
"Look at the house!" he roared. "They tried to burn us alive! We're targets. We take the babies with us, and we're hand-delivering them to Viktor."
The words hit her like a sledgehammer. Elena's body shook.
"No… No! No! No!" She yelled, shaking her violently.
"I'm not leaving without them. You can go if you want, but I'm not leaving my babies behind!"
"Elena…" He drew her closer to his chest. She struggled against him, hands pressing against his shoulders, trying to push him away.
"I can't leave them," she whispered, her voice breaking.
"I know," he said softly, tightening his hold just enough to keep her upright without hurting her.
"I'm not asking you to. We'll figure this out together. Just breathe with me."
Her eyes flashed with desperation. She jerked, trying to wrench herself free. "Please, don't make me leave them."
He stayed firm, his hands steadying her trembling arms. "I've got you. You're not alone."
For a long moment, she fought him, heart racing, until finally her shoulders slumped, exhaustion seeping into her every movement.
He finally let her go, sensing her resistance had softened. She swayed slightly, but she forced herself toward the nanny, her hands reaching for her babies despite the exhaustion that weighed her down.
Her hands lingered on the infants, trembling, as reality sank in. She had become a liability to her own family. A beacon for anyone willing to chase, hurt, or kill them to get what they wanted. She swallowed hard, forcing herself to breathe.
"Marie…" she said, voice cracking under the weight of her fear, "…take them to St. Brigitte's. The orphanage. My family… My family grew up there. Find Sister Marianne. Tell her…" She swallowed, choked, then finished, "…tell her she doesn't give them to anyone. Not the police, not the Valois, nobody. Only us. Or my blood."
The nanny's face went pale. "Madame, I can't—"
"Go!" Arthur barked, shoving Marie toward the side gate. "Now! Before they come back!"
He watched them vanish into the dark, hearts in his chest screaming. This was the hardest thing he'd ever done. But there was no time to grieve. He spun toward Elena and shoved her into the car.
"We are going to the lake house. I have some cash stacked away in case of an emergency. We need passports too. We grab them, cross the border, and we come back for the kids with a federal army."
Rain fell harder, pounding the windshield and drumming on the roof in a chaotic rhythm. The road to the lake twisted and turned, a slick, treacherous ribbon under the storm. Arthur's hands were white-knuckled on the wheel, muscles taut as he fought the car through the deluge.
"We're almost there," he muttered to himself, teeth clenched.
Elena didn't respond. She stared out the window, hands curled as though holding her children in some invisible embrace, and he didn't dare break her focus.
Then headlights appeared behind them, two sets. Not slowing.
"Shit," Arthur hissed, foot slamming the accelerator.
A massive SUV hit them out of nowhere, cutting into their lane. The first hit landed a glancing blow to the bumper, then a brutal second impact. Tires screamed on the wet asphalt as the SUV rammed again, forcing them toward the edge of the bridge.
Arthur fought the wheel, cursing with every muscle in his body, but the SUV drove them straight through the guardrail.
The car tipped sideways.
The car smashed into the water with a bone-jarring impact. The windshield shattered, shards raining down. Elena's head snapped against the dashboard. She went limp.
"Elena! Elena, wake up!" Arthur screamed, lunging but the water was already flooding in, cold and suffocating. The car's weight dragged them into the black abyss of the lake.
On the pier above, Augustin stood in the rain, frozen, watching bubbles rise to the surface. He saw the taillights glow beneath the water for a few desperate seconds before vanishing. His throat tightened. He wanted to scream. He wanted to jump. But Seraphina's calm, ice-cold gaze pinned him in place.
Present Day – Isabelle's POV
The portrait room smelled faintly of old wood, but the heaviness in the air made it feel suffocating. I sank into the high-backed chair, my limbs feeling too heavy to lift.
Augustin was broken. Slumped against the wall, hands pressed to his face, sobbing in a wet, pitiful rhythm. "I watched them die, Althea," he choked out. "I watched the water take them… because I was too much of a coward to lose my own skin."
The truth pressed down on me like a boulder. Worse than the rumors, worse than anything I could have imagined. Adrien. My twin. My other half. And my parents… they weren't crooks, they weren't selfish. They were martyrs, destroyed by people like Seraphina.
"You knew," I whispered. "All this time… you watched me struggle. You watched them treat me like trash."
"I thought… I thought I was protecting you," Augustin hiccupped, voice raw. "By staying quiet… Seraphina… she would've finished the job."
The oak doors creaked open. Augustin's sobbing stopped mid-choke. My body froze. I didn't need to turn to know who was there.
The smell of lilies filled the room.
Seraphina stepped into the light. Her gaze swept over Augustin with pure disgust, then she landed on me.
"Augustin," her voice was sharp. " I thought I told you the doctor ordered total bed rest. You really shouldn't be down here… telling stories to the help. I told you that your heart would eventually get you in trouble. "
Then she looked at me. That cruel, calculated smile appeared on her lips.
"Well, Althea," she whispered, "now you know why you were always a 'nobody.' How does it feel… to finally see the truth right before it stops mattering?"
I swallowed, my throat dry. My hands curled into fists on my lap. Every muscle in my body screamed to move, to attack, to run… but I could not move.