He Rejected Every Woman Who Wanted Him—But One Accident With His Maid Changed Everything

By eleven o'clock that night, the city of Chicago was wrapped in a thick, eerie fog. At the northern docks, massive steel shipping containers stood like giant tombstones against the dark, churning waters of Lake Michigan.

Inside the reinforced panic room beneath the East Wing suite, Khloe paced back and forth across the small carpeted floor. The room was luxurious—equipped with monitors showing security feeds from around the estate, leather seating, and stockpiles of food and water—but to Khloe, it felt like a gilded cage.

On the security screens, she could see the estate was locked down. Armed guards stood at every entrance. But Victor was not there. He had led a convoy of heavily armed SUVs to the northern docks to confront Leo Donati once and for all.

He’s still injured, Khloe thought frantically, her fingers twisting together in anxiety. His wound hasn't fully healed. If he gets into a fight...

She looked at the main security console. A glowing red button labeled “OVERRIDE” sat near the master panel. Victor’s head security officer had shown her how to operate the system earlier in case of an emergency.

Khloe made a decision. She couldn't sit in the dark while the man who had saved her brother walked into a trap.

She hit the override button. The heavy steel door of the panic room slid open with a hiss.

Outside, the East Wing was silent and empty. The guards were stationed at the perimeter fences, expecting an attack from the outside. Khloe slipped through the silent corridors, avoiding the main hall, and made her way to the garage in the basement.

There, she found a small, dusty sedan that belonged to the estate’s maintenance staff. The keys were hanging on a peg near the door. Khloe snatched the keys, threw open the manual garage door, and started the engine.

Twenty minutes later, Khloe’s car pulled into the shadow of an abandoned warehouse two blocks away from the northern docks. The air smelled of salt, rot, and diesel fuel.

She crept through the shadowy maze of shipping containers, her coat pulled tight against the freezing wind. In the distance, she heard loud voices echoing over the sound of crashing waves.

In a central clearing surrounded by rusted containers, Victor stood alone under the harsh yellow light of a halogen lamp. He wore his long dark coat, his hands resting casually in his pockets. Behind him, hidden in the dark, were twenty of his top enforcers, weapons raised and ready.

Across from him stood Leo Donati, flanked by thirty heavily armed men from the southern syndicate. Beside Leo stood Isabella, wearing a dark leather jacket, her face twisted in triumphant malice.

“You came alone, Victor,” Leo taunted, holding a heavy shotgun. “I thought you were smarter than that.”

“I’m never alone, Leo,” Victor said, his voice smooth and calm. “And you are terribly outmatched.”

“Is that so?” Isabella stepped forward, a nasty sneer on her face. “Where is your precious little maid, Victor? Is she hiding back at your castle, waiting for you to come home? Bad news, Don—my men slipped onto your property twenty minutes ago. By now, she’s already in our hands!”

Victor’s face didn't change, but his eyes narrowed into deadly slits. “You lie.”

“Do I?” Isabella laughed, pulling out a small radio transmitter. “I gave them orders to bring her to the south warehouse once they cleared your security!”

From her hiding spot behind a shipping container fifty feet away, Khloe felt a cold sweat break out across her neck. Isabella was trying to bluff Victor into making a reckless move!

Suddenly, a shadow fell over Khloe.

Before she could scream, a heavy, rough hand clamped down over her mouth, and a hard steel barrel pressed against her temple.

“Don't make a sound, little girl,” a gruff voice whispered in her ear.

It was one of Donati’s scouts who had been guarding the perimeter of the docks! He had spotted her creeping through the containers!

The guard dragged Khloe out of the shadows and into the bright halogen light of the clearing.

“Look what I found crawling around the containers, Donati!” the guard yelled, shoving Khloe forward onto her knees in the cold snow.

The entire clearing went deathly still.

Leo Donati laughed hysterically. “Well, well! Look at that! The universe has a sense of humor! She came right to us!”

Victor turned his head slowly. When his eyes fell on Khloe kneeling in the snow, a gun pointed at her head, his entire body locked up. For the first time in his life, true, absolute terror gripped his heart.

“Khloe...” Victor whispered, his slate-grey eyes burning with fierce emotion.

Isabella walked over to Khloe, grabbing her by her brown hair and pulling her head back sharply. “Look at her, Victor! Look at your little trash maid! Hand over the deeds to the northern ports, or I’ll blow her brains out right here!”

Khloe looked at Victor through the tears streaming down her face. “Victor... don't do it. Don't give them anything!”

“Shut up!” Isabella screamed, raising a handgun and pressing the barrel directly against Khloe’s forehead.

Victor took a step forward, his hands coming out of his coat pockets. His face was pale, his voice filled with a desperate, dark intensity.

“Leo! Isabella! Listen to me very carefully,” Victor said, his voice echoing across the silent docks like thunder. “Touch her, and I will not just kill you. I will erase every person who carries your bloodline from the face of the earth. Put the gun down.”

Isabella sneered, her finger tightening on the trigger. “Too late, Victor—”

CRACK!

A sharp gunshot echoed across the docks. But it wasn't Isabella’s gun.