Chapter 1
“One baby.”
I kept my eyes on Julian.
“Now tell me who was waiting downstairs for him.”
His face changed before he could control it.
Then he looked at Bianca.
That was enough.
Behind me, Claire stood between the three bassinets while two of my men blocked the maternity-suite doors. Sofia lay propped against the bed, pale and exhausted, one hand stretched protectively toward the babies.
Victor sat crookedly in the padded sleeper chair.
Julian was half-covered by fallen blankets and paper cups from the collapsed refreshment station.
Bianca had not moved.
I looked at her.
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“Nobody.”
Wrong answer.
One of my bodyguards entered from the corridor.
“Boss.”
I turned.
“There’s a Mercer SUV in the lower private drive.”
Victor closed his eyes.
The guard continued.
“Driver named Elias Ward. He has an infant carrier, a packed baby bag, formula, blankets, and instructions to leave through the service garage.”
Sofia made a sound behind me.
Small.
Broken.
I looked toward Julian.
“You prepared transportation.”
He stood slowly.
“My father did.”
Victor immediately snapped:
“Don’t.”
Interesting.
I walked toward him.
“Where was the baby going?”
No answer.
I crouched until we were eye level.
“Victor.”
His jaw tightened.
“The Connecticut house.”
Bianca finally spoke.
“He would have been safe.”
I turned.
He.
The baby Victor had lifted was the only boy among the triplets.
Two newborn girls.
One newborn boy.
And apparently someone had decided the boy could be separated.
Sofia started crying.
“You promised me this conversation was over.”
I looked at her.
“Conversation?”
Julian’s face hardened.
Too late.
Sofia continued.
“They’ve been talking about giving Bianca one of the babies for months.”
My body went completely still.
Not an impulse.
Not some insane decision made after delivery.
Months.
I looked at my son-in-law.
“You planned this while my daughter was pregnant.”
Julian stared at the floor.
Then Claire quietly reached toward the bedside table.
Something rested beneath a folded blanket.
A small blue ribbon.
One end had been tied into a neat loop.
She held it up.
“I found this attached to the boy’s bassinet earlier.”
Bianca went pale.
“What does it mean?”
May you like
Claire looked at me.
“Someone had already marked which baby they intended to take.”
