Chapter 2: The Enemy Within
Vivien barely slept.
The guest suite assigned to her inside Blackwood Estate was larger than her entire apartment, yet every shadow felt threatening.
At 3:14 a.m., she sat by the window overlooking the grounds.
Security patrols moved below.
Armed guards.
Floodlights.
Motion sensors.
The estate looked less like a home and more like a military fortress.
And somehow she was trapped inside it.
One hand rested on her stomach.
Triplets.
Every time she remembered the ultrasound, a wave of conflicting emotions hit her.
Fear.
Wonder.
Panic.
Love.
All tangled together.
A soft knock interrupted her thoughts.
The door opened.
Adrian entered carrying two mugs.
"Tea."
Vivien raised an eyebrow.
"You personally deliver tea to kidnapped women?"
A faint smile appeared.
"Only stubborn ones."
She accepted the mug.
The warmth felt good in her hands.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Adrian placed a thick file on the table.
Vivien immediately recognized the red security seal across the front.
"What is that?"
"The answer to one of your questions."
Her stomach tightened.
Adrian sat across from her.
"You asked why people were following you."
"Yes."
He opened the file.
Inside were photographs.
Dozens of them.
Vivien at work.
Vivien leaving her apartment.
Vivien buying groceries.
Vivien waiting for a bus.
Vivien froze.
"What the hell is this?"
Adrian looked grim.
"Those aren't my surveillance teams."
A chill raced through her.
"Then whose are they?"
"We don't know yet."
The earliest photograph was dated eight months ago.
Vivien stared.
Eight months.
That was long before the wedding.
Long before she met Adrian.
Long before the pregnancy.
Someone had been watching her for nearly a year.
Her hands trembled.
"Why me?"
Adrian remained silent.
That frightened her more than any answer.
Because it meant he didn't know.
And if Adrian Blackwood didn't know something, it was probably dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Suddenly another voice spoke from the doorway.
"Because she was selected."
Vivien jumped.
An older man stood there.
Silver hair.
Expensive suit.
Sharp blue eyes.
The expression of someone accustomed to giving orders.
Adrian immediately stood.
Not out of fear.
Out of respect.
"Victor."
Victor Kane.
Even Vivien recognized the name.
Former intelligence officer.
Current head of Blackwood security.
One of the most feared investigators in private industry.
Victor stepped inside.
His expression looked darker than usual.
"What do you mean selected?" Adrian asked.
Victor dropped another folder onto the table.
"Three years ago, someone started building a database."
Vivien frowned.
"A database?"
"Women."
The room became very quiet.
Victor continued.
"Specific age ranges."
He opened the file.
"Specific bloodlines."
Another page.
"Specific medical markers."
Another.
"Specific genetic traits."
Vivien's heartbeat accelerated.
"What are you talking about?"
Victor looked directly at her.
"You weren't chosen because of Adrian."
The room seemed to shrink.
"You were chosen before you ever met him."
Adrian's face hardened.
"Explain."
Victor slid several documents across the table.
Medical records.
Research files.
Corporate reports.
None of it made sense.
Then one name appeared repeatedly.
Alexander Moretti.
Adrian's expression immediately changed.
Not fear.
Hatred.
Pure hatred.
Vivien noticed instantly.
"Who is that?"
Nobody answered.
The silence itself became confirmation.
Finally Adrian spoke.
"My enemy."
Victor corrected him.
"Your worst enemy."
The name lingered in the air.
Alexander Moretti.
A rival crime lord.
A billionaire.
A strategist.
A man rumored to think twenty moves ahead of everyone else.
Victor folded his hands.
"Three years ago Moretti began financing genetic research through shell companies."
Vivien blinked.
"What does genetics have to do with any of this?"
Victor's eyes moved toward her stomach.
Everything.
The answer landed before he spoke it.
Triplets.
The babies.
No.
Impossible.
"You're insane."
Victor looked almost sad.
"I wish I were."
Adrian suddenly stood.
"No."
Victor met his gaze.
"The evidence is overwhelming."
"No."
"They targeted her long before the wedding."
"No."
"They knew who she was."
The room fell silent.
Vivien stared between them.
"What aren't you telling me?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Then Victor finally opened the last file.
A photograph slid across the table.
Vivien's breath stopped.
The woman in the photo looked exactly like her mother.
Not similar.
Identical.
Same eyes.
Same smile.
Same face.
Except the image had been taken decades earlier.
"What is this?"
Victor spoke quietly.
"Your grandmother."
Vivien felt dizzy.
"My grandmother died before I was born."
"That's what you were told."
The room exploded with silence.
For several seconds she couldn't process the words.
Then reality crashed into her.
"My grandmother is connected to this?"
Victor nodded.
"Very connected."
Before he could continue, alarms suddenly erupted throughout the estate.
Every light flashed red.
Sirens screamed.
Adrian was already moving.
Victor grabbed a radio.
Voices exploded through the speakers.
"Security breach."
"South wing compromised."
"Shots fired."
Vivien froze.
Gunfire echoed somewhere below.
One shot.
Then three more.
The mansion instantly transformed.
Guards ran through hallways.
Doors locked automatically.
Emergency lights activated.
Victor's voice became ice.
"Get her to the panic room."
Adrian grabbed Vivien's arm.
"Move."
She didn't argue.
Not this time.
The sound of automatic weapons thundered somewhere nearby.
Glass shattered.
Someone screamed.
Adrian pulled her through hidden corridors she hadn't even known existed.
The walls themselves seemed to open.
Security doors slid aside.
The estate was built for war.
They reached a reinforced steel room.
Victor keyed in a code.
The door opened.
"Inside."
Vivien stepped through.
Adrian followed.
The vault-like door sealed behind them.
The silence felt unnatural after the chaos outside.
Then a monitor screen flickered to life.
Security footage appeared.
Vivien watched in horror.
The attackers weren't random gunmen.
They moved with military precision.
Professional.
Organized.
Deadly.
One security team after another fell back.
Blood stained marble floors.
Broken glass covered hallways.
Then Adrian froze.
His face went completely still.
Dangerously still.
"What?"
He pointed toward one of the screens.
A man was leading the attackers.
Not forcing his way in.
Walking confidently.
As if he belonged there.
Victor appeared on another monitor feed.
His expression was grim.
"We have a problem."
Adrian's voice turned deadly.
"I know."
The man on the screen was someone Adrian knew.
Someone trusted.
Someone from inside Blackwood security itself.
One of his own captains.
A traitor.
The realization hit like a bomb.
The attack had never been about breaking in.
The enemy had already been inside.
For months.
Maybe years.
The traitor led the gunmen directly toward a secure wing.
Toward the room where Vivien had been sleeping.
Toward her.
"They came for me."
Adrian looked at her.
"Yes."
Fear squeezed her chest.
"Why?"
The answer arrived through the monitor.
A captured attacker was being interrogated downstairs.
Victor's voice echoed through the speaker.
"Who hired you?"
Silence.
Then a gunshot.
A scream.
Finally the attacker broke.
"Moretti!"
The room went still.
"Why did Moretti want the woman?"
The attacker laughed weakly.
Blood stained his mouth.
Then he spoke words that froze everyone.
"Not the woman."
Victor stared.
"What?"
The attacker smiled.
"The babies."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
"The babies belong to him."
Vivien felt the blood drain from her face.
"No."
The attacker laughed again.
"That's what Moretti says."
Adrian's eyes became terrifying.
The screen suddenly cut out.
No explanation.
No warning.
Just darkness.
A second later Victor's voice returned.
Urgent.
Sharp.
"Adrian."
"What?"
"We found something else."
The next image appeared.
A personnel file.
An employee record.
A name.
Vivien stared.
Then her heart nearly stopped.
Because she recognized the face.
The nurse from the clinic.
The same woman who had performed her ultrasound.
The same woman who had discovered the pregnancy.
The same woman who had seen the three heartbeats.
Victor's voice was deadly calm.
"She's been working for Moretti for six years."
The truth crashed down all at once.
The clinic.
The surveillance.
The attack.
The ultrasound.
None of it had been coincidence.
Someone had known exactly where she would be.
Exactly when she would be there.
Exactly what the scan would reveal.
Vivien wrapped both arms around herself.
For the first time she understood the scale of what she had been dragged into.
This wasn't about one powerful man.
This wasn't about a surprise pregnancy.
This was a war.
And somehow her unborn children stood at the center of it.
Outside the panic room, gunfire finally began fading.
The attack was ending.
But something told Vivien the real battle was only beginning.
Because somewhere in New York, Alexander Moretti now knew one thing for certain.
The triplets were alive.
And he was willing to kill for them.
To be continued...