Chapter 1 - The Resurrection
Damien Rowe did not just walk into the dining hall of Briarwell Academy.
He completely invaded it.
The dozens of heavily armed men fanning out behind him instantly silenced the panicked screams of the elite students.
Maren lay curled on the cold marble floor, clutching her swollen belly as white-hot pain ripped through her spine.
She looked up through her blurred, exhausted tears and suddenly forgot how to breathe.
The man who had kissed her forehead on those freezing Chicago mornings was not dead.
He was standing right in front of her, his tailored suit radiating absolute authority and lethal, barely contained fury.
Chloe Ashford took a hesitant step backward, suddenly realizing that her immense wealth meant absolutely nothing in this moment.
"Who touched her?" Damien asked, his voice deathly quiet and echoing through the vast room.
The entire glittering ballroom remained perfectly, terrifyingly silent.
Damien did not bother asking twice.
He gave a slight nod to his lead enforcer, who immediately grabbed Headmaster Ellison by the throat and slammed him against a crystal pillar.
"The girl with the blonde hair," the Headmaster choked out, pointing a desperate, shaking finger directly at Chloe.
Chloe began to sob uncontrollably, dropping her expensive phone as Damien slowly walked toward her.
"My father is Marcus Ashford," she stammered, backing into a table covered in expensive floral arrangements.
"Your father is a dead man," Damien replied softly.
He did not even look at her again as he knelt on the floor and gently gathered Maren into his strong arms.
Maren tried to speak his name, but another agonizing cramp forced a sharp, breathless scream from her lips.
Damien's cold, calculating eyes widened in sheer panic as he looked down at his expensive hands.
The crisp white fabric of Maren's janitorial uniform was rapidly turning a terrifying shade of dark crimson.
He knew they had absolutely no time to wait for a civilian ambulance.
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"We are leaving now," Damien roared to his men, lifting Maren as if she weighed absolutely nothing.
Maren rested her head against his chest, listening to his frantic heartbeat as the darkness finally pulled her under.
