Chapter 4 - The Sanctuary on Long IslandFour weeks after the afternoon at the Knox Dynamics Tower, a heavy, cold November rain swept across the manicured lawns of the Vance Estate in Gold Coast, Long Island.
I stood outside the high iron security gates wearing a simple dark wool coat, completely unbothered by the freezing rain soaking through my clothes into my skin.
I had stepped away from Knox Dynamics completely. I had surrendered my corporate appeals, revoked my legal countersuits, and liquidated eighty percent of my personal holdings, transferring six billion dollars directly into an unshakeable, irrevocable trust for Ethan and Eva.
I didn't care about the board of directors. I didn't care about the news headlines. I didn't care about the eighteen billion dollars.
For twenty-eight days, I had slept in a small one-bedroom hotel room two miles down the road, walking to these iron gates every single afternoon at two o'clock.
I didn't yell. I didn't bring security guards or corporate lawyers.
I simply stood on the rain-swept pavement outside the gate, holding two tiny silver rattles I had purchased from a jeweler in Tiffany's, waiting for a chance to ask my wife for forgiveness.
At 2:30 p.m., the heavy iron security gates chimed softly, swinging open.
Gabriel Vance stepped out onto the wet driveway holding a large black umbrella, looking at me standing in the pouring rain. His face was no longer filled with corporate rage; it held a quiet, severe stillness as he took in my pale, thin face, my soaked clothes, and my hollow eyes.
"She sees you every day from the nursery window, Adrian," Gabriel spoke softly, his voice cutting through the sound of the rain.
I swallowed hard, my throat locking up violently. "How... how are they, Gabriel? How is Eva’s breathing? Is Ethan eating well?"
Gabriel looked at me for a long moment, then stepped aside, gesturing toward the open gate.
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"Walk up to the glass pavilion in the garden, Adrian," Gabriel said flatly. "She is waiting for you."
My knees nearly gave out right there on the wet asphalt. Tears mixed with the freezing rain cutting down my face as I stumbled through the gates, my heart pounding so hard against my ribs I thought it would burst.
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