Zayne’s POV

“My father… kidnapping a child?”

The words felt unreal even as I said them, heavy, poisonous, curdling in my chest.

I wanted to laugh, to call it slander, but the red-and-blue strobes flashing across the estate walls weren’t rumors.

They were real. Too real.

“Tell me it isn’t true,” I demanded, stepping forward, my voice breaking louder than I wanted.

Charles stood tall on the staircase, fury in his jaw, arrogance in every breath.

“Don’t be dramatic, Zayne. It ...