Chapter 3
Sienna forgot how to breathe.
“What did he say?”
Nico immediately ended the call.
“Nothing you need to deal with right now.”
“Nico.”
A nurse pushed Sienna’s wheelchair toward the maternity elevator.
“Nico, what did he say?”
He walked beside her.
“Sienna, you are having a baby.”
“And twelve million dollars is apparently sitting in an account with my name on it.”
Mila sat on Nico’s other side, clutching the old phone.
The nurse glanced between them but wisely said nothing.
Sienna grabbed Nico’s sleeve.
“Tell me.”
His face softened.
“The money was transferred into an account opened under your identity.”
“My identity?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t open anything.”
“I know.”
“How do you know?”
“Because unlike certain people in this family, you don’t look guilty before I finish asking the question.”
Sienna almost laughed.
Then another contraction hit.
The laugh became a scream.
The elevator doors opened.
Everything accelerated.
Nurses surrounded her.
Questions came rapidly.
How far apart are the contractions?
Any complications?
Any bleeding?
Who is the father?
Who is allowed in the room?
At that question, Sienna stopped.
A nurse waited with a tablet.
“Mrs. Ferrante?”
Sienna stared toward the hallway.
For months she had pictured Gavin standing beside her.
Holding her hand.
Cutting the cord.
Crying when their son arrived.
She had built the moment in her mind so many times that losing it felt like grieving something that had already happened.
“Only Mila and Nico.”
The nurse nodded.
Nico hesitated.
“Mila can’t be in the delivery room during the birth, but she can remain nearby with me.”
Sienna nodded.
“Fine.”
The nurse looked at her.
“And your husband?”
Sienna’s voice cracked.
“No.”
Mila looked down.
Sienna immediately regretted saying it so harshly.
Not because Gavin deserved protection.
Because Mila did.
She reached for her daughter.
“Sweetheart.”
Mila came close.
“This is not because of anything you did.”
“I know.”
“You did the right thing bringing Grandpa the recording.”
Mila’s eyes became wet.
“Daddy’s going to hate me.”
The words devastated Sienna.
“No.”
“He told Grandma he wished I would stop asking questions.”
Sienna stared at her.
“When?”
“On the recording.”
Nico slowly looked at the phone.
They had not heard all eleven minutes.
Sienna realized there were still several minutes left.
Her stomach turned.
“What else did you hear?”
Mila rubbed her sleeve over her eyes.
“Daddy said after the baby came, everything would change.”
Sienna swallowed.
“That could mean anything.”
Mila shook her head.
“He said there wouldn’t be room for mistakes anymore.”
Nico’s gaze hardened.
Sienna saw it.
“Don’t.”
He looked at her.
“Don’t decide what it means until we hear everything.”
“All right.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
Another nurse appeared.
“We need to examine you now.”
Sienna kissed Mila’s forehead.
“Stay with Grandpa.”
Mila held on.
“Mommy.”
“I’m right here.”
“What if Daddy comes?”
Nico answered before Sienna could.
“He does not get near you unless your mother says so.”
Mila nodded.
Sienna was wheeled away.
The doors closed between them.
For the next hour, pain swallowed almost everything.
Almost.
Between contractions, Sienna kept thinking about the bank account.
Her name.
Twelve million dollars.
A forged proxy.
A midnight transfer of company shares.
And the sentence that would not leave her mind.
She won’t come home.
The doctor examined her.
“Six centimeters.”
Sienna stared at the ceiling.
“That sounds terrible.”
The doctor smiled gently.
“It sounds like you’re making progress.”
“I prefer money progress.”
The nurse laughed.
Sienna didn’t.
Her phone sat on the nearby table.
It buzzed.
Gavin.
She ignored it.
It buzzed again.
And again.
Finally a message appeared.
Please let me explain before Dad destroys everything.
Sienna stared at those words.
Not before I lose you.
Not before Mila thinks I hate her.
Before Dad destroys everything.
She turned the phone facedown.
Outside the room, Nico sat beside Mila in a private family lounge.
He had listened to the rest of the recording once.
Only once.
He wished he hadn’t.
Mila was drawing at a small table because the nurse had brought her crayons.
Nico held the phone.
He rewound the final three minutes.
Gavin’s voice:
“Mila’s been watching me lately.”
Marjorie:
“She’s seven.”
“She understands more than Sienna thinks.”
“Then send her to camp.”
“She refused.”
“Then stop acting nervous around her.”
A pause.
Then Gavin:
“After tonight, I don’t want her near Dad’s office.”
Marjorie:
“After tonight, Nico won’t have an office.”
Another pause.
Gavin:
“And if the account is traced?”
Marjorie:
“It points to Sienna.”
“She’ll know she didn’t open it.”
“Knowing and proving are different things.”
Nico stopped the recording.
His hand tightened around the phone.
Mila looked up.
“Grandpa?”
He forced his face calm.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Are you mad?”
“Very.”
“At me?”
The question hit him hard.
He crossed the room and knelt beside her.
“Never for telling me the truth.”
She studied his face.
“Daddy said families shouldn’t tell secrets outside the family.”
“Sometimes adults say that when they want children to hide things adults shouldn’t be doing.”
“Was Daddy doing something bad?”
Nico chose his words carefully.
“I believe your father made some serious mistakes.”
“Is he going to jail?”
Nico inhaled slowly.
“I don’t know.”
Mila looked back at her drawing.
She had drawn four people.
Sienna.
Herself.
A small baby.
And Nico.
No Gavin.
Nico noticed.
He said nothing.
His phone rang.
Attorney.
He moved several steps away.
“Talk.”
“We traced the account.”
“And?”
“It was opened six weeks ago.”
“By whom?”
“The bank’s identity verification used Sienna’s passport, tax information, and a facial scan.”
Nico frowned.
“Facial scan?”
“Yes.”
“She never opened it.”
“I believe you.”
“Then how?”
“We’re investigating.”
“Where did the money come from?”
“Ferrante Holdings reserve account.”
“Authorization?”
“Two signatures.”
Nico already knew.
“Mine and Gavin’s.”
“Yes.”
“My signature is forged.”
“There’s another problem.”
Nico looked toward Mila.
“There seems to be an entire warehouse of problems tonight.”
“The bank has video from the identity verification session.”
Nico’s chest tightened.
“It shows Sienna.”
“No.”
“It shows someone who looks like her.”
Nico went silent.
His attorney continued.
“The image quality is poor, but it’s close enough that an investigator could believe it’s her.”
Nico thought of Marjorie.
Then remembered something.
Six weeks ago.
A family fundraiser.
Sienna had worn a cream dress.
Marjorie had brought a woman from a beauty agency to help with hair and makeup.
Sienna had complained afterward that the woman asked strange questions about facial proportions because she was supposedly testing a new cosmetic program.
Nico felt sick.
“Send me the video.”
“Already doing it.”
The call ended.
Mila looked up again.
“Is Mommy okay?”
“Yes.”
Nico hoped that was true.
Inside the delivery room, Sienna’s phone buzzed again.
This time the message wasn’t from Gavin.
It was from an unknown number.
There was one photograph.
Sienna opened it.
Her blood turned cold.
The picture showed Mila asleep in her bedroom.
Taken from inside the house.
The timestamp was from three nights earlier.
Underneath were six words.
TELL NICO TO STOP DIGGING NOW.
Sienna sat upright.
“Nurse.”
The nurse turned.
“What’s wrong?”
Sienna held up the phone.
“Call security.”
At the same moment, the door outside the maternity wing opened.
A man in hospital maintenance clothing pushed a cart down the corridor.
His head remained lowered beneath a cap.
He passed the nurses’ station.
Turned toward the private family lounge.
And reached into his pocket.
Mila was alone for twelve seconds.
Nico had stepped into the adjoining hallway to meet his attorney’s investigator.
Twelve seconds.
That was all it took.
The maintenance worker entered the lounge.
Mila looked up.
“Hi.”
The man smiled.
“Your daddy sent me.”
Mila’s expression changed.
“He did?”
“He wants to see you.”
She remembered what Nico had said.
She backed away.
“I have to ask Grandpa.”
The man moved faster.
He reached for her arm.
Mila screamed.
Nico heard her.
He turned so quickly that his phone hit the floor.
The bodyguard stationed near the elevator sprinted toward the lounge.
The maintenance worker grabbed Mila.
She kicked him.
Hard.
Her shoe struck his knee.
He cursed.
Nico reached the doorway.
“LET HER GO!”
The man shoved Mila away and ran.
The bodyguard chased him.
Mila crashed against the couch.
Nico caught her before she hit the floor.
She clung to him, screaming.
“Grandpa!”
“I have you.”
“He said Daddy sent him!”
Nico’s face changed.
“Who?”
“The man!”
Nico looked toward the hallway where security was already running.
Then his phone rang again.
This time it was Gavin.
Nico answered.
“You have five seconds to convince me you did not just send a man after your daughter.”
Gavin went silent.
“What?”
“Someone tried to take Mila.”
“No.”
“Your daughter says he told her you sent him.”
“Dad, I swear to God—”
“Choose your next sentence carefully.”
“I DIDN’T SEND ANYONE!”
Nico heard genuine panic.
For the first time that night, he believed Gavin immediately.
Then Gavin said something unexpected.
“Where’s Mom?”
Nico’s gaze hardened.
“Why?”
“Because she disappeared from the garage.”
Nico looked toward the elevator.
“When?”
“Right after you left.”
“Where are you?”
“Still at the building.”
“Do not leave.”
“Dad, listen to me. There’s something I haven’t told you.”
Nico closed his eyes.
“Of course there is.”
Gavin’s voice dropped.
“Mom isn’t doing this alone.”
Nico stared at the corridor.
“Who?”
“I don’t know his real name.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I met him twice. Mom called him Mr. Vale.”
Nico’s blood went cold.
He knew that name.
Not a person.
A company.
Vale Strategic Recovery.
A private corporate intelligence firm.
One that specialized in hostile takeovers.
Nico had rejected an acquisition offer from one of their clients eight months earlier.
“How long has your mother been working with Vale?”
“I don’t know.”
“Gavin.”
“Maybe a year.”
Nico nearly crushed the phone.
“A year?”
“She told me they were financial advisers.”
“You forged my signature for financial advisers?”
“I was already in too deep.”
“You were in too deep because you kept digging.”
Gavin began breathing heavily.
“Dad, there’s more.”
“What?”
“The twelve million was never the real target.”
Nico went still.
“What was?”
May you like
Gavin whispered:
“You.”
