Chapter 1
Nico did not press play.
Not yet.
Sienna doubled over beside the SUV.
Whatever was on Mila’s phone could wait.
His daughter could not.
“Sienna.”
“I’m okay.”
Another contraction tightened across her abdomen.
She closed her eyes and gripped the side of the vehicle.
Nico looked at one of his bodyguards.
“Call the hospital. Tell them we’re coming.”
Gavin pushed himself out of the collapsed detailing cart.
“That’s my wife.”
Nico looked at him.
“You shoved her into concrete while she was in labor.”
“She isn’t in labor.”
Sienna turned toward him.
“I think my water just broke.”
That ended the argument.
Nico picked up the hospital bag himself.
Mila immediately took Sienna’s hand.
Gavin stepped forward.
“I’m going with her.”
Sienna looked at him.
“No.”
“Sienna.”
“No.”
Her voice shook, but the answer did not.
“You stay away from me.”
Gavin stared at her.
Then at the phone still in Nico’s hand.
Again.
The phone.
Not his wife.
Not the baby.
Nico noticed.
So did Mila.
Marjorie rose from beneath the fallen covers.
“You’re letting a frightened child turn this into something it isn’t.”
Mila recoiled toward Nico.
He looked at Marjorie.
“She recorded adults talking.”
“She doesn’t understand what she heard.”
“Then you should be very comfortable with me hearing it.”
Marjorie said nothing.
Sienna suddenly gasped.
Nico stopped wasting time.
He took Sienna and Mila upstairs through the private elevator while two security men remained with Gavin and Marjorie until their attorneys arrived.
At Northwestern Memorial, the contractions were confirmed.
Early labor.
The baby was fine.
Sienna was exhausted, frightened, and furious.
Mila sat in the corner of the private room with her coat still on.
Nico crouched beside her.
“You did good.”
Mila looked toward her mother.
“Is the baby okay?”
“Yes.”
“Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Daddy?”
Nico hesitated.
“That’s something the adults are going to deal with.”
Mila looked at the phone.
“He said Mom couldn't know.”
Nico’s expression changed.
“Who?”
“Daddy.”
“What couldn't she know?”
Mila frowned.
Seven-year-olds remembered language better than three-year-olds, but they still interpreted adult conversations through pieces.
“He said Grandma had the old paper.”
“What paper?”
“I don’t know.”
“And then?”
“Grandma said they only needed Mom busy until Monday.”
Nico looked toward Sienna.
She had heard.
Her face went pale.
“What did they say about Monday?”
Mila swallowed.
“Something closes.”
Sienna turned toward her father.
“I heard that part too.”
“When?”
“Before Gavin shoved me.”
She pressed one hand against her stomach.
“I came into the garage because I heard him arguing with Marjorie.”
“About what?”
Sienna looked at the phone.
“Something he signed for me.”
Nico’s eyes hardened.
“You signed?”
“No.”
That was the first real problem.
May you like
Not what Gavin had said.
What he claimed Sienna had already signed.
