Esmeralda
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Professor Chen showed them to their rooms, explaining the security features with practiced efficiency. "The entire wing is equipped with a separate system. Only Julian and I have access to the codes."
The suite was elegant but understated, nothing like the opulent spaces Alex preferred. Esmeralda found comfort in that difference as she settled Luca into the large four-poster bed, his dragon plush clutched tight even in sleep. Away from the gothic grandeur of the main house, this wing felt almost cozy—a proper sanctuary.
"You should try to rest," Penny said softly, setting up her laptop to monitor their security feeds. "I'll take first watch."
But sleep was impossible. Every time Esmeralda closed her eyes, she saw Alex's face at the gala—the fury masking something deeper, something she'd been too afraid to recognise three years ago. Then at the hotel, his perfect composure completely shattered as he ran toward the elevator. She'd never seen him like that, not even during their most heated private moments.
The disposable phone Julian had given her sat silent on the windowsill. A necessary precaution—they'd learned long ago never to use traceable devices during their escapes. She sank into the window seat, watching the moonlight cast shadows across the manicured grounds. The Alex she knew would never have made that scene at the gala, would never have acknowledged their connection so publicly. He'd been the one who'd insisted on secrecy, who'd kept their marriage hidden from everyone.
Yet he'd never signed those divorce papers.
He'd received them—that much was clear from his words tonight. But he'd chosen to keep their marriage intact, while she'd disappeared, building a new life he'd never think to look for. The irony wasn't lost on her—the great Alexander Vale, who could find anything or anyone, had spent three years searching libraries and universities while she'd reinvented herself in the tech world.
In the next room, Luca mumbled in his sleep, and her heart clenched. Whatever Alex's reasons, whatever had changed to make him break his own rules about privacy tonight, she had far more to protect now than just her heart.
Through the window, she watched shadows dance across the estate's grounds. Somewhere in Blackwood City, Alex was probably still searching, his carefully controlled world suddenly thrown into chaos by her reappearance. The thought should have given her some satisfaction—the great Alexander Vale, thrown off balance. Instead, it only added to the hollow ache in her chest.
"You're thinking too loud," Penny murmured from her position by the laptop. The soft blue glow of the screen cast shadows across her friend's worried face. "I can hear the wheels turning from here."
"He was different tonight," Esmeralda said softly, careful not to wake Luca. Her fingers traced patterns on the cool glass, a nervous habit she'd developed during those long nights in Alex's penthouse. "At the gala, at the hotel... it wasn't just anger. It was like he was..."
"Desperate?" Penny suggested. "Scared?"
"Alexander Vale doesn't get scared." But even as she said it, she remembered the look in his eyes when the elevator doors were closing. The way his voice had cracked when he called her name. "He calculates. He plans. He doesn't..." She paused, remembering his dishevelled appearance, so unlike his usual perfect control. "He doesn't chase someone through a hotel like that."
"Maybe," Penny said carefully, closing her laptop to look directly at Esmeralda, "that's because he's never lost something that mattered more than control before."
The words hung in the air, heavy with implication. Through the partially open door, they could hear Luca's soft breathing, punctuated by the occasional mumble about knights and dragons.
"Knight," he called out softly in his sleep, reaching for his dragon. "Find the princess..."
Esmeralda's throat tightened. Even in sleep, their son was telling their story—though he didn't know it was theirs. The brave knight searching for his princess... how many times had she woven pieces of Alex into those bedtime tales, giving Luca something of his father without risking everything they'd built?
The disposable phone on the windowsill suddenly felt like a weight, though it hadn't made a sound. Julian had promised it was untraceable, meant only for emergency contact. Still, she couldn't help but remember Alex's last words at the gala: "You can't run forever, Esmeralda."
"We should try to sleep," Penny suggested, though they both knew rest would be elusive. "At least until—"
A sharp crack echoed through the night, like a branch breaking under weight. Both women froze.
Penny moved silently to her laptop, pulling up the security feeds. Esmeralda stood, every muscle tense, ready to grab Luca at a moment's notice. They'd practiced this too many times—the art of swift, silent evacuation burned into their muscles by years of careful planning.
"Movement at the south gate," Penny whispered, her fingers flying over the keyboard. "But it's just... wait."
Esmeralda crossed to look over her shoulder. On the grainy night-vision feed, a deer picked its way through the garden, pausing to nibble at Professor Chen's prized roses. The tension in her shoulders eased slightly, but the adrenaline spike had left her shaking.
"We're jumping at shadows," Penny said softly, but her own hands trembled as she closed the laptop. "He can't know about this place. Not yet."
"No," Esmeralda agreed, moving back to check on Luca. He slept on peacefully, one small hand curled around Storm's wing, the other reaching toward where she usually lay beside him. "But he's different tonight. More... unpredictable."
She settled on the edge of his bed, gently smoothing his dark curls—like his father's. The same curls she'd watched Alex run his hands through in frustration at the gala, his usual perfect composure cracking.
"Mama?" Luca stirred slightly, his storm-grey eyes fluttering open. "Is the knight still looking?"
The innocent question made her heart stutter. Before she could answer, the disposable phone on the windowsill lit up with an incoming message.
Julian: Security perimeter clear. But there's unusual activity on the main road. Multiple black SUVs heading toward the university district.
Esmeralda's fingers tightened on Luca's blanket. Alex's preferred vehicles—she'd recognize that convoy pattern anywhere. But they couldn't know about Ravencrest. Not yet.
"The knight is very far away, my love," she whispered, pressing a kiss to Luca's forehead. "Go back to sleep."
"But he looked sad," Luca mumbled, already drifting off again. "In the stories, when the princess disappears, the knight always looks sad..."
Her chest tightened. Trust a child's innocent observation to cut straight to the heart of things. Alex had looked sad—beneath the fury and intensity, there had been something raw, something wounded in his expression that she'd never seen before.
"I'll take first watch," Penny insisted again, moving to the window seat Esmeralda had vacated. "You need to rest, even if you can't sleep. Tomorrow we'll need to—"
Another message lit up the phone's screen:
Julian: University security reports increased patrols around campus perimeter. Standard procedure for high-profile acquisitions, but worth noting.
"He's being thorough," Esmeralda murmured, more to herself than Penny. "Methodical. Like always."
"But still looking in the wrong places," Penny reminded her gently. "He's searching universities, libraries—all the places the old Esmeralda would have gone. He has no reason to connect you to tech or business ventures."
It was true. The woman Alex had known—the literature lover who sketched roses and dreamed of teaching—had disappeared the night she left. In her place stood someone new: a tech entrepreneur, a businesswoman, a mother who'd rebuilt herself from the ground up.
The disposable phone buzzed again:
Julian: Professor Chen suggests moving to the east wing if needed. Separate security grid, better escape routes.
Esmeralda typed back a quick acknowledgment, then set the phone aside. Through the window, she could see the moon casting long shadows across the estate's grounds. The gothic architecture of Ravencrest University loomed in the distance, its spires reaching toward the star-studded sky like something from one of Luca's fairy tales.
"Do you ever wonder," she asked softly, watching a cloud pass over the moon, "what would have happened if I'd stayed? If I'd confronted him about Juliette's claims instead of running?"
Penny was quiet for a long moment. "Would it have changed anything? You were both keeping secrets, both playing roles. You were his hidden wife, he was the untouchable businessman..."
"And now?"
"Now he's chasing you through hotels and making public scenes at galas." Penny's tone carried a hint of wonder. "The great Alexander Vale, throwing away his precious control for all of Blackwood City to see."
A sound from Luca's room had them both tensing again, but it was just him turning over, clutching Storm closer. The dragon's wings caught the moonlight, casting small shadows that danced across the ceiling.
"He's getting too old for the knight stories," Esmeralda said quietly, though they both knew it wasn't true. "Soon he'll start asking real questions about his father."
"And what will you tell him?"
Before she could answer, the disposable phone lit up once more:
Julian: Vale Industries security team spotted at the airport. Something's happening.
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