The tension that hovered over the Montgomery estate the next morning felt like a tangible force, a storm waiting to break. The public narrative had shifted slightly in Clair's favor thanks to her powerful video, but the FBI was still circling like wolves, and Isadora wouldn't retreat quietly. She never did.
Austin Montgomery stood at the center of his command room, a sleek space lit by data screens, satellite feeds, and glowing red alerts. His posture was still, his hands behind his back, but his mind was a furnace of strategy. Every heartbeat, every breath, calculated and precise.
Elias walked in with a tablet. "The file drop to the FBI went through. They now have Isadora's shell accounts, bribes, and connections to the mayor's assistant."
Austin nodded slowly. "That'll shake her foundation. And the media?"
"Still split. But the sympathy is growing. Clair's story helped. Now we hit the next phase. Public exposure. We leak the footage."
Austin turned to face Elias. "Not just yet. Let's make her run first. Let her reach for power while her empire collapses under her."
Meanwhile, Clair sat in the solarium, sunlight dancing through glass walls as she sorted through care packages sent by supporters. Handmade baby clothes, letters from other nurses, and little charms filled the table. But her hands trembled slightly. She could feel the eyes. Paparazzi drones, long-range cameras, watching her from hidden angles.
She looked up as Austin entered. "They're still out there."
"Let them watch," he said, walking over. "We'll give them a show soon enough."
She looked into his eyes. "I want to go back to the hospital. Help again. Even if just for a few hours."
Austin paused. "You'd be a target."
"So be it. I won't hide forever, Austin. We said we'd do this together."
He studied her, then slowly nodded. "We'll do it your way. But with precautions."
By noon, Clair walked into the children's ward of one of the Montgomery-funded hospitals, dressed in soft blue scrubs. The moment she stepped into the hallway, the whispers started. But so did the smiles.
"Miss Johnson? I mean... Mrs. Montgomery?"
She turned to see a teenage girl with a wrapped leg. "Just Clair is fine."
The girl smiled. "You're... you're really here?"
Clair nodded. "And so are you. So let's make it count."
She moved from bed to bed, checking vitals, adjusting IVs, telling stories. The staff welcomed her like she'd never left. One nurse whispered to another, "No wonder he fell in love with her."
Across the street, Elias and a team of disguised Montgomery guards watched from a black SUV. One guard asked, "Should we tighten the perimeter?"
Elias shook his head. "Let her breathe. But keep your eyes sharp. Isadora's pride is bleeding. She'll strike soon."
He was right.
That night, a message was sent directly to Austin's private server. A single video file. No name, no source.
Austin opened it. The screen flickered to life and showed Clair in the hospital, standing by a window. The camera zoomed in. A red laser dot briefly flickered on her shoulder. Then it vanished.
No bullet. Just a warning.
Austin's eyes turned feral.
He stood, slammed the screen off, and barked, "Lock down the estate. Double Clair's security. Get me eyes on every sniper in a ten-block radius."
Within minutes, the Montgomery network was activated. Drones launched. Satellites scanned. Facial recognition systems spun into motion. Elias entered the room mid-command.
"What happened?"
Austin tossed him the tablet.
Elias watched the clip. His jaw tightened. "She's escalating. We have to end this, Austin. Now."
"We will. We bait her into thinking she won. Then we close the net."
Clair was in the bathtub when Austin walked in that evening. Her eyes flicked up as he sat beside the tub.
"I know about the video," she said quietly.
He froze. "You saw it?"
"Marcus showed me. I asked him to."
He reached out, brushing damp curls from her forehead. "This won't happen again. I swear to you."
"You can't promise that."
"No, but I can make it hurt for anyone who tries."
She reached for his hand. "I'm not afraid, Austin. I just want to know we're fighting for the right thing. Not just revenge."
He looked into her eyes. "We're fighting for us. And our children. That's the only war I care about."
She leaned forward, pressing her lips to his. It wasn't frantic or desperate. It was deep, anchoring, reaffirming everything they'd built.
The next day, Clair released another video. This one more candid. Less polished.
"I'm not perfect. I never asked to be in this spotlight. I'm a nurse, a daughter, a woman who fell in love and got thrown into a world she didn't ask for. But I choose to stay. I choose to fight beside the man I love. For truth. For our child. For peace."
It trended in minutes.
By evening, Austin and Elias stood at the private airstrip.
"She took the bait," Elias confirmed. "She's flying to the Turks. Probably to meet her silent partners and regroup."
"Let's intercept. Quietly. No blood unless absolutely necessary. I want her to feel the full weight of what she's done."
Their plane took off under a moonlit sky, fast and discreet.
Meanwhile, Clair remained at the estate, under heavy guard. But that night, she couldn't sleep. Something was off. A pull in her stomach. A flutter.
She rushed to the bathroom.
Five minutes later, she sat on the tiled floor, holding a second pregnancy test.
Positive.
A third heartbeat.
Tears welled in her eyes. Not from fear. From joy and a little fear, it was rear but it could happen, another pregnancy while being pregnant.
She whispered, "Oh God... Austin doesn't know."
Back in the Caribbean, Austin and Elias landed silently at a private hangar. They were met by two agents from a covert European ally faction who owed Austin favors from years ago.
"She's staying at Villa De Croix," the agent said. "Heavily guarded. But she trusts the local staff."
Austin loaded his weapon. "Then we go in from the inside."
They moved in just before dawn. Silenced weapons. Smoke bombs. Non-lethal takedowns.
Isadora, startled in her lavish room, reached for her pistol, but it was kicked away before she could blink.
Austin stood over her.
"Hello, Isadora. Ready for your curtain call?"
She spat. "You wouldn't dare."
"I don't have to. You're already finished."
Elias tossed her a USB drive. "We just leaked every file. Every deal. Your investors are gone. Your accounts frozen. FBI has you red-flagged on every continent."
Isadora's face crumpled.
"You've taken everything from me."
"You tried to take her," Austin said. "Now you have nothing."
Isadora screamed as they left her in the hands of foreign agents bound for extradition.
Hours later, Austin returned to the estate.
He found Clair waiting in the garden, barefoot, radiant, her hands cradling her belly.
She smiled at him, tears already in her eyes. "I have news."
He ran to her.
She took his hand, placed it against her belly. "It's not just two this time...." He looked at her confused. "I think there could be a third".
He froze.
She nodded. "The twins... Have another friend in here...."
Austin dropped to his knees, overcome. The walls, the war, the world, they all fell away.
"How is it possible?" He asked her uncertain but believing.
"It's rare but there are cases of women being pregnant again even though they are currently pregnant". She explained
" And you happened to be one of those special women." Austin said with pride written all over his face.
It was just them.
And the promise of a future worth everything they had survived.