Chapter 1

The alarm ripped through the departure hall.

Adrian’s first reaction wasn’t fear.

It was a cold laugh.

He grabbed my wrist.

“Hailey, you’re nothing more than an airport security officer. Who gave you the right to set off an alarm whenever you feel like it?

“I’m just taking Chloe overseas to have the baby, and you’re so jealous you’re willing to throw your professional ethics out the window?”

Chloe shrank behind him, her eyes immediately filling with tears.

“Adrian, don’t blame Hailey.

“She’s always liked heart-shaped marble pieces like this. Maybe seeing the one you gave me was just too much for her.”

With a single sentence, she painted me as a jealous, unhinged woman.

My mother rushed over and grabbed my arm.

“Hailey, haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough?

“Chloe is pregnant, and you’re really going to fight her over a stupid rock?”

My father’s expression darkened too.

“When Chloe lost both her parents in that car accident, you were the one who begged us to take her in. That’s why we raised her like our own daughter.

“She’s always given in to you. How did you become the one who can’t stand to see her happy?”

When Chloe first moved into our home, I gave her half my room.

I treated her better than I would have treated a real sister.

Even when Adrian and I started dating, I brought her along all the time.

But somewhere along the way, both my parents and my husband had started taking her side.

Now Adrian had even gone so far as to fake his own death just to get away from me.

I pulled my arm out of my mother’s grasp and pointed at the suitcase.

“Open it.”

“That stone needs to be inspected separately.”

Adrian’s face turned cold.

“What, you think someone hid a bomb inside a little rock?”

I didn’t answer.

But years of experience told me there was something inside that stone.

Something that looked very much like a protected cultural artifact of national importance.

There was no way I could allow it to leave the country.

Chloe suddenly went pale.

She clutched her stomach and collapsed against Adrian.

“Adrian, my stomach hurts.”

Panic instantly flashed across his face. He caught her and started toward the gate.

“Don’t be scared. We already have a doctor waiting for you overseas. I’ll get you on the plane right now.”

I stepped directly into his path.

“The alarm hasn’t been cleared. No one involved is allowed to leave.”

He laughed in disbelief.

“Who the hell do you think you are, Hailey? You think you can stop me?

“Get your supervisor. I’m filing a complaint against you for abusing your authority and harassing a pregnant woman.”

I said nothing.

He had no idea that I was the youngest division chief in the customs department.

Every Saturday, I changed into a frontline uniform and personally inspected outbound items alongside the frontline staff.

But my credentials were locked in a secure cabinet.

If I told him who I was now, he’d only think I’d come up with another ridiculous lie.

Suddenly, Chloe reached into her bag and pulled out a heart-shaped stone.

Tears streamed down her face as she held it out to me.

“Hailey, if you really want it that badly, you can have it.

“Please, just stop making things difficult for me and my baby.”

My mother immediately stepped in front of her protectively.

“It’s just a rock! Are you really not going to stop until Chloe loses her baby?”

I took the stone from her.

One glance was enough to make my blood run cold.

No.

This wasn’t it.

There was no icy glow.

My head snapped up.

“This isn’t the same stone.

“Where’s the one from before? What did you do with it?”

Chloe’s pupils contracted.

I snatched her bag and started searching through it.

My fingers had just brushed against something icy cold when Adrian violently yanked me away.

My back slammed into the corner of a table.

A sharp pain tore through my lower abdomen.

“That’s enough, Hailey!”

My parents grabbed me from either side, their faces filled with disappointment.

“You’ve gone too far.”

“Adrian, take Chloe and go. We’ll stay here and deal with her.”

Adrian wrapped an arm around Chloe and started leading her away.

I tore myself free from my parents and blocked their path again.

“Stop!”

This time, Adrian finally lost his temper.

His eyes turned ice-cold.

“Hailey, do you really think that if you make a big enough scene, everyone has to drop everything and revolve around you?

“You did the same thing last time. I had one business dinner and didn’t come home, and you called me over and over, demanding to know where I was.

“And what happened?

“You lost the baby, and somehow you still blamed me.”

His voice grew harsher with every word.

“You already caused the death of your own child.

“Now you’re trying to kill mine and Chloe’s too?”