Chapter 2
For three seconds, nobody moved.
The underground garage suddenly felt too quiet.
Sienna stood beside the open SUV door with one hand pressed beneath her stomach.
Another contraction tightened across her belly.
She sucked in a painful breath.
“Nico…”
But Nico barely heard her.
His eyes remained on his son.
Gavin slowly straightened beside the overturned detailing cart.
His expensive jacket was wet from a bottle that had burst open on the floor.
“Dad, this is ridiculous.”
Nico looked down at Mila’s old phone.
“Then you have nothing to worry about.”
Marjorie pushed a storage bin away from her legs.
“This child has been spying on adults. That is the problem.”
Mila immediately stepped behind Sienna.
“I wasn’t spying.”
Her voice shook.
“I heard Daddy yelling.”
Sienna turned.
“You heard what?”
Gavin’s jaw tightened.
“Mila, stop.”
The little girl flinched.
That tiny reaction changed Nico’s face.
He looked at Gavin again.
“Don’t speak to her.”
“I’m her father.”
“And right now she looks terrified of you.”
Gavin took one step forward.
One of Nico’s bodyguards moved between them.
“Enough!” Sienna cried.
Her voice echoed through the garage.
Everyone stopped.
Sienna’s eyes filled with tears.
“I am nine months pregnant. I was supposed to be going to the hospital with my husband.”
She looked directly at Gavin.
“Instead, five minutes ago you told me to have our son without you because your mother wanted you upstairs.”
“That isn’t what happened.”
“That is exactly what happened.”
“Sienna—”
“No.”
She lifted one trembling hand.
“You said it.”
Gavin looked away.
Sienna felt something inside her break that had nothing to do with labor.
For months she had defended him.
To her friends.
To Nico.
Even to herself.
Gavin was stressed.
Gavin was overwhelmed.
Gavin was trying to manage his mother.
Gavin would change after the baby came.
Every excuse suddenly sounded pathetic.
Nico unlocked Mila’s phone.
There was no password.
The screen showed a recording that lasted eleven minutes and forty-three seconds.
Marjorie’s expression drained.
“Nico, before you listen—”
He pressed play.
Static filled the garage.
Then footsteps.
Mila breathing.
A door closing.
And Gavin’s voice.
Clear.
Angry.
“You promised me this would be finished before the baby came.”
Sienna froze.
Marjorie’s recorded voice followed.
“It would have been if you had stopped panicking.”
Nico raised his eyes.
Gavin rushed forward.
“Dad, shut that off.”
The bodyguard blocked him again.
On the recording, Gavin spoke.
“I’m not losing everything because Sienna decided to become suspicious.”
Sienna slowly turned toward him.
“Suspicious about what?”
Gavin said nothing.
The recording continued.
Marjorie’s voice became colder.
“She doesn’t know anything. All she knows is that the trust documents changed.”
Nico’s entire body became still.
“What trust documents?”
Marjorie whispered, “Nico…”
He increased the volume.
Recorded Gavin said, “She saw the lawyer’s email.”
Marjorie answered, “Then you should have deleted it.”
Sienna covered her mouth.
She remembered.
Three weeks earlier, an email had appeared on Gavin’s tablet while he was showering.
She had only seen the preview.
FERRANTE FAMILY TRUST — REVISED BENEFICIARY AUTHORIZATION.
Gavin had told her it was routine paperwork.
She had believed him.
The recording continued.
Then Gavin said something that made Nico’s face change completely.
“If Dad finds out I used his signature, I’m finished.”
Mila looked up at her grandfather.
Sienna forgot about the pain in her stomach.
Nico stared at his son.
“You used my signature?”
Gavin swallowed.
“Listen to the rest.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It’s complicated.”
“No. Forging my name is surprisingly simple.”
Marjorie stood.
“Nico, he made a mistake.”
The recording answered for him.
Marjorie’s voice said, “It wasn’t a mistake. We needed access before Nico transferred control to Mila and the new baby.”
Sienna’s heart stopped.
Mila whispered, “Me?”
Nico’s gaze snapped toward his granddaughter.
Then back to Marjorie.
On the phone, Gavin laughed bitterly.
“You said Dad would never notice twelve million.”
Sienna gasped.
One of the bodyguards looked at Nico.
Nico showed no expression at all.
That terrified Gavin more than anger would have.
“Twelve million dollars,” Nico said quietly.
“It wasn’t stolen.”
Gavin’s answer came too fast.
Nico stared at him.
“I haven’t accused you of stealing yet.”
Gavin went pale.
Marjorie closed her eyes.
Sienna felt another contraction begin.
Harder this time.
She gripped the SUV.
Mila grabbed her hand.
“Mom?”
“I’m okay.”
She wasn’t.
Pressure crushed through her lower back.
Nico immediately turned.
“Sienna?”
“I think we need to go.”
A warm sensation suddenly ran down her legs.
Everyone looked down.
Sienna looked too.
Her water had broken.
Mila’s eyes widened.
“The baby?”
Sienna gave a frightened laugh through her tears.
“Yes, sweetheart. The baby.”
Nico pointed toward the SUV.
“Get her inside.”
Gavin moved.
“I’ll drive.”
Nico stepped between him and the door.
“No.”
Gavin stared at him.
“She’s my wife.”
“And apparently you had somewhere more important to be ten minutes ago.”
“Dad.”
“You stay here.”
“You cannot keep me from my child.”
Sienna looked at Gavin.
Until that moment, some part of her had still wanted him beside her.
Now she didn’t know what she wanted.
Another sentence played from Mila’s phone.
Nobody had noticed the recording was still running.
Marjorie’s recorded voice said:
“Once the baby is born, Nico changes the trust permanently. Tonight is our last chance.”
Everyone went silent again.
Gavin stared at the phone as if he wanted to smash it.
Then his own recorded voice came through.
“And Sienna?”
Marjorie answered.
“You keep her at the hospital.”
“How?”
“However you have to.”
Sienna’s blood went cold.
Nico stopped breathing for a moment.
Mila squeezed Sienna’s hand.
The recording continued.
Gavin lowered his voice.
“What if she comes home?”
“She won’t.”
Sienna stared at Marjorie.
“What does that mean?”
Marjorie said nothing.
“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?”
“It means nothing.”
“Then explain it!”
“You’re in labor. You’re emotional.”
Sienna took a step toward her.
“Do not use my pregnancy to make me sound crazy.”
“Sienna—”
“Why wasn’t I supposed to come home?”
Gavin suddenly shouted, “Because Mom wanted time to remove the documents!”
Marjorie swung toward him.
“You idiot.”
The garage went dead silent.
Gavin realized what he had done.
Nico nodded once.
“There it is.”
Gavin rubbed both hands over his face.
“Dad, please. It wasn’t supposed to go this far.”
“How far did it go?”
Gavin looked at his mother.
Nico followed his gaze.
That was answer enough.
Sienna struggled into the SUV.
Mila climbed beside her.
Nico leaned toward one of the guards.
“Call our attorney. Then call security upstairs. Nobody enters my office.”
Marjorie laughed nervously.
“You’re behaving like some crime has happened.”
Nico looked directly at her.
“Hasn’t it?”
She stopped laughing.
Gavin moved closer to the SUV.
“Sienna, please.”
She stared at him through the open door.
He looked desperate now.
Not cruel.
Not cold.
Desperate.
That somehow hurt worse.
“What were you going to do while I was giving birth?”
“Nothing to you.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
He glanced at Nico.
“I was going upstairs to fix this.”
“Fix what?”
“The transfer.”
“What transfer?”
Gavin hesitated.
Nico turned sharply.
“What transfer?”
Gavin whispered, “The company shares.”
Nico’s expression hardened.
“What did you do?”
Marjorie cut in.
“Nothing irreversible.”
Nico stared at her.
“That is the second sentence tonight that sounds like a confession.”
Sienna felt another contraction and cried out.
Mila climbed closer.
Nico slammed the SUV door.
“We’re leaving.”
Gavin grabbed the handle.
“Dad!”
Nico lowered the window.
“You have exactly one opportunity to help yourself.”
Gavin’s face tightened.
“Tell me the truth before I discover it without you.”
Gavin looked at Marjorie.
Then at Sienna.
Then at Mila.
Finally he whispered, “There’s a closing scheduled for midnight.”
Nico’s eyes narrowed.
“For what?”
“My voting shares.”
Nico laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You don’t own enough shares to change control.”
“I do on paper.”
Nico became completely still.
Marjorie whispered, “Gavin.”
But he continued.
“I do if your proxy is valid.”
Nico’s voice dropped.
“And you forged my proxy.”
Gavin nodded.
Sienna shut her eyes.
Mila began crying quietly.
Nico looked at his son for a long moment.
Then he told the driver, “Hospital.”
The SUV began moving.
Gavin ran alongside it.
“Sienna!”
She looked through the glass.
For seven years, Mila had believed her father could fix anything.
Sienna had believed something similar.
Now Gavin looked small beneath the fluorescent garage lights.
A man surrounded by everything he had broken.
The SUV turned toward the exit.
Sienna thought that was the last she would see of him that night.
She was wrong.
Because twenty minutes later, while nurses rushed her through the private maternity entrance, Nico received a call.
His attorney was shouting so loudly that Sienna could hear him from several feet away.
“Nico, the proxy isn’t the biggest problem.”
Nico stopped walking.
“What is?”
A pause.
Then:
“Someone already moved the twelve million.”
Nico’s eyes shifted toward Sienna.
“Where?”
May you like
The attorney answered.
“Into an account opened in the name of Sienna Ferrante.”
