Isla's POV
"Someone call an ambulance!" James shouts, already on his phone.
I'm frozen. Dominic is on the ground, blood spreading across his shirt, and both twins are screaming. My body won't move. Won't breathe.
Then Ethan's hand grabs mine. "Mama! Daddy's hurt!"
Daddy. The word breaks through my shock.
I drop to my knees beside Dominic. His eyes are open, but his face is white. "The boys," he gasps. "Get them... safe..."
"You're not dying on me, you stubborn man." I press my hands against his shoulder wound. "Not when you just started being a decent father."
Victor is laughing. Actually laughing. "How touching. But I wasn't aiming for Dominic."
My blood turns to ice. I look at the twins—both shaking but unharmed. Then I follow Victor's gaze to the chairs where the prisoners sit.
My mother. Her eyes are wide. Too wide.
There's blood on her chest.
"No. NO!" I start to stand, but Dominic's hand catches mine.
"Stay with the boys," he grits out. "James will handle it."
But my mother is dying. The woman who supposedly died sixteen years ago, who I just found again, is bleeding out ten feet away from me.
Victor levels his gun at the twins. "Now then. Let's try this again. Sign over custody, or I shoot the children next. And this time, I won't miss."
"You're going to prison," James says, but he's too far away to tackle Victor without someone getting shot.
"No. I'm going to disappear with my great-nephews and a fortune." Victor smiles. "Dominic will die from blood loss. Isla will be too broken to fight. And everyone else here? Well, accidents happen in old warehouses."
Aiden suddenly speaks up, his voice small but clear. "You're mean."
Victor blinks. "What?"
"You're mean and you smell bad." Aiden steps closer to his twin brother. "My mama wouldn't let a mean person take us. She's brave."
Ethan nods, grabbing his brother's hand. "Really brave. She raised me all by herself."
"How adorable." Victor's finger tightens on the trigger. "Any last words, boys?"
"Actually, yes."
The voice comes from the doorway. Marcus Langford walks in with a dozen police officers behind him.
My heart nearly stops. Marcus. Marcus came.
"The warehouse is surrounded, Ashford," Marcus says calmly. "You have nowhere to run."
Victor's face twists with rage. "How did you—"
"The tracking devices weren't just on the boys." Marcus looks at me. "Lily gave me one too. I've been listening to everything. The murder confession. The kidnapping. All recorded."
Victor swings his gun toward Marcus, but James finally moves. He tackles Victor from the side, and the gun goes off again—this time hitting the ceiling.
Officers swarm in. Victor is on the ground, handcuffed, screaming about how everything was supposed to be his.
I don't care about Victor anymore. I run to my mother.
She's unconscious but breathing. An officer is already applying pressure to her wound. "Ambulance is two minutes out, ma'am."
"Mom," I whisper, taking her hand. "Mom, please. I just got you back."
Her eyes flutter open. "Isla... my baby..." Her voice is so weak. "I'm sorry... I couldn't protect you..."
"Shh. Save your strength. You're going to be okay."
But there's so much blood.
Behind me, paramedics rush in for Dominic. The twins are crying, held back by Lily who appeared from somewhere. My father is being untied, his face gray with shock. Sarah and Marcus are helping each other stand.
Everything is chaos.
"Isla." My mother squeezes my hand with surprising strength. "Listen... important..."
"Mom, don't talk—"
"Victor wasn't... working alone." Her breathing is ragged. "There's someone else. Someone more dangerous. They paid him... to take the boys..."
My blood runs cold. "Who? Who paid him?"
"Didn't see face... but Victor called them... 'the Director.'" Her eyes are fading. "They want... Ashford bloodline... for something bigger..."
"Mom? MOM!"
The paramedics push me aside, working frantically. One of them is shaking his head.
No. No, this can't be happening.
"We're losing her!"
Everything becomes slow motion. The medical equipment. The flashing lights. My mother's hand going limp in mine.
I hear screaming and realize it's coming from me.
Then strong arms pull me back. Marcus. He's holding me while I fall apart, and I hate that it's not Dominic, but Dominic is being loaded into an ambulance, unconscious now.
"The boys," I gasp. "Where are the boys?"
"Lily has them. They're safe." Marcus's voice is steady, but I can hear his fear. "Isla, we need to get you checked out too—"
"My mother just died!" I shove him away. "I don't need to be checked out, I need to—"
"Actually," one of the paramedics says carefully. "She's not dead. But she will be if we don't get her to surgery now."
They load my mother into an ambulance. I try to follow but an officer stops me. "Ma'am, we need your statement. The children need you."
The children. My babies.
I turn and see both twins huddled against Lily, their faces streaked with tears. Ethan sees me and breaks free, running to crash into my arms. Aiden follows more slowly, uncertain.
"Mama, is Grandma going to die?" Ethan sobs. "Is Daddy going to die?"
"No, baby. No. They're both fighters." I pull Aiden into the hug too. "We're all fighters."
But am I lying? I don't know.
James approaches, phone to his ear. "Dominic's in surgery. Your mother's in surgery. Both critical but stable for now." He hesitates. "Isla, we need to talk about what your mother said. About this 'Director' person."
"Not now."
"It has to be now. If someone else is after the twins—"
"I said NOT NOW!" My voice echoes through the warehouse.
Everyone falls silent.
I'm shaking. I can't stop shaking. The twins are crying. There's blood all over my clothes—Dominic's blood, my mother's blood. Victor is being dragged away, still screaming. And somewhere, someone called "the Director" wants my sons.
Marcus touches my shoulder gently. "Let's get the boys somewhere safe first. Then we'll figure out the rest."
I nod numbly. What else can I do?
We're walking toward the exit when my phone buzzes. Unknown number.
I shouldn't answer it. I know I shouldn't.
But my thumb moves on its own.
"Hello?"
The voice on the other end is electronically distorted. Male or female, I can't tell.
"Hello, Isla. I see Victor failed. Such a disappointment."
My heart stops. "Who is this?"
"Someone who's been watching your family for a very long time. Don't worry—I'll give you time to bury your dead and heal your wounded. Call it... professional courtesy."
"If you touch my sons—"
"I don't want to hurt them, Isla. Quite the opposite. They're very special boys. Especially Aiden."
How does this person know about Aiden being special?
"What do you want?"
"The same thing Victor wanted. But I'm much more patient. Much more dangerous. And unlike Victor..." The voice drops to a whisper. "I already have someone inside your inner circle. Someone you trust completely."
The line goes dead.
I stare at my phone, my mind racing. Someone I trust? Who? Marcus? James? Lily?
No. It can't be any of them.
Can it?
"Isla?" Marcus is watching me with concern. "Who was that?"
I look at him. Really look at him. Is it you? Are you the traitor?
"Wrong number," I lie.
But as we pile into Marcus's car, both twins secured between us, I realize something terrible.
Victor was just the beginning.
The real enemy is still out there.
And they're someone I know.