Page 53 of Knot Heirs: Serenity's Reign

The car slowed at a traffic light, and Serenity watched a family cross the street, parents holding their child's hands, all bundled against the December chill.

Normal lives. Safe lives. Something she'd never have.

"And if I accept," she asked, turning back to him, "what guarantees do I have that I won't just be trading one cage for another? Three Alphas deciding my future hardly sounds like freedom."

Lucian's laugh was unexpected, rich, and genuinely amused.

"If you were any other Omega, perhaps that might work. But you're Marcus Vale's daughter." His eyes traced her face with something like appreciation. "I suspect the three of us will be lucky if we can simply keep up with you."

The car accelerated again, and Serenity felt the weight of the decision pressing down on her. Trust these men—these powerful, dangerous Alphas—or face The Society alone? Every instinct she'd developed over years warned her against relying on others. Every Omega who'd ever been betrayed by an Alpha's false promises whispered caution in her ear.

Yet her father—the man who'd kept her hidden, protected, separate from his empire—had chosen these men. Had that been his final gift to her? Or his final manipulation?

"I need time to think," she said, the words feeling inadequate against the magnitude of the choice, but deep down she already made her decision.

Not like the options were on her side to begin with.

"Time is the one luxury we're rapidly running out of," Lucian replied, checking his phone briefly. "But I'll give you until morning." His eyes met hers again, and the intensity in them made her nerves sing with awareness. "Ronan is securing asafe house as we speak. Darius is monitoring communications channels for any mention of your name."

"And what will you be doing?" she challenged.

His smile was slow, predatory.

"Staying close to you." The car turned onto a quieter street. "Very close."

Serenity's mind raced, examining the angles, evaluating risks, considering outcomes. She'd built her career on financial analysis—assessing risk versus reward, potential losses against possible gains.

But this wasn't a balance sheet. This was her life.

"I don't trust easily," she said finally.

"I'd be concerned if you did." Lucian's expression shifted to something more serious. "Trust is earned, Serenity. We don't expect yours immediately. But we do need your cooperation while we earn it."

The car slowed again, pulling into an underground garage beneath what appeared to be a residential building—elegant, discreet, and certainly expensive.

"Is this where you keep all your potential pack members?" she asked, unable to keep the edge from her voice.

"This is one of my personal residences," he corrected smoothly. "The only other person who knows about it is my security chief." He looked at her directly. "You'll be safer here than anywhere else in Paris tonight."

As the car came to a stop, Serenity felt the full weight of her situation crash over her.

Orphaned. Hunted. The inheritor to an empire built on blood.

And now, sitting beside an Alpha who looked at her with equal parts desire and calculation.

"Whatever I decide," she said slowly, "understand that I won't be controlled. Not by The Society, not by my father's legacy, and certainly not by you or your Alpha friends."

Lucian reached across the space between them, his fingers brushing a strand of hair from her face with surprising gentleness. The touch sent an electric current down her spine that she fought to ignore.

"Control isn't what we seek from you, Serenity," he said, his voice dropping to a register that made her inner Omega respond traitorously. "Alliance. Partnership. Protection." His eyes darkened. "Other things, perhaps, in time."

The car door opened, Lucian's driver standing at attention. Outside, the underground garage was silent, climate-controlled, a world away from the festive Parisian streets above.

Stepping from the car, Serenity felt the weight of her decision in every movement. The choice between standing alone against an invisible enemy or accepting the protection of three Alphas who might have their own agendas. Between isolation and vulnerability. Between independence and survival.

Inside the elevator, ascending to Lucian's penthouse, she watched his reflection in the polished brass doors. His face was a study in controlled power—the set of his jaw, the intensity of his gaze, the way he positioned himself slightly behind her, protective yet giving her space.

"What would my father say?" she asked suddenly. "If he could see me now, considering an alliance with the three Alphas he selected without my knowledge or consent."

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