CHAPTER 5

SIENNA BLAKE

My phone didn't just ring; it shattered my fragile peace into a million jagged pieces.

I was in the middle of sorting a stack of patient invoices in the basement billing office when the screen lit up with the daycare’s number. I snatched it up, a sudden, heavy dread pooling in my stomach.

"Miss Blake!" the daycare director gasped, her voice tight with absolute panic. "I am so sorry. We don't know how it happened. One minute the triplets were playing in the corner during recess, and the next... they were just gone. We’ve already called mall security and the local police—"

The world tilted on its axis. The papers in my hand slipped, scattering across the desk. "What do you mean they’re gone?" I choked out, my voice rising to a frantic pitch. "How do three five-year-olds just vanish from a secure playground?"

"We are checking the cameras right now, but—"

I didn't wait for her to finish. I slammed the phone down, my breath catching in my throat as my maternal instincts took over. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. Think, Sienna. Think.

Then, a memory flashed in my mind. Three days ago, Aiden had insisted on installing a custom tracking app on my phone, claiming it was a 'statistical necessity for family logistical safety.' At the time, I had just laughed and kissed his forehead. Now, my trembling fingers flew across my screen, tearing through my apps until I found the small radar icon he had created.

I tapped it. Three bright blue dots appeared on the digital city map.

They weren't at a playground. They weren't wandering the dangerous streets outside. They were right here. Inside St. Jude’s Central Hospital.

My jaw dropped as I watched the little blue dots move on the screen. They were ascending. I blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of the data. The elevator tracker on the app showed they were moving past the third floor, the tenth floor, the twentieth floor... straight toward the penthouse executive wing.

The top floor.

The absolute horror hit me. Adrian Cole’s office.

I broke into a dead run, abandoning my desk and sprinting toward the staff elevators. I mashed the button repeatedly, but the display showed it was stuck on the twelfth floor. I couldn't wait. I spun around and threw my weight against the heavy fire door, taking the stairs three at a time. My lungs burned, and my legs felt like lead, but the sheer terror of what might happen if Adrian saw them pushed me forward. If he looked at them, if he noticed the identical eyes, the identical jawline... he would know. His powerful, ruthless family would find out.

While I was desperately racing up the concrete stairwell, the heavy oak doors of the Chief of Surgery’s office were already being pushed open.

Adrian Cole sat behind his massive mahogany desk, his dark eyes scanning a multi-million dollar acquisition contract. The room was dead silent, save for the soft ticking of an antique grandfather clock in the corner.

Suddenly, the security lock on his private executive elevator chimed, a bright green light flashing on the wall. Adrian’s brows furrowed. No one was scheduled to use that elevator without his secretary’s clearance.

The heavy metal doors slid open.

Instead of a high-ranking board member or a senior surgeon, three tiny figures marched out into the luxurious, sunlit office.

Adrian froze, his pen hovering just millimeters above the signature line. He stared, completely speechless, as a small boy in a blue jacket with a fiercely protective expression walked in first. Behind him was another boy, wearing a pair of oversized plastic glasses and holding a glowing tablet. Bringing up the rear was a tiny girl with long brown pigtails, holding a stuffed rabbit and smiling brightly.

Adrian’s breath hitched. His analytical, brilliant medical mind completely stalled.

The kids didn't look like strangers. As they approached his desk, Adrian felt a strange, electric jolt shoot straight down his spine. The two boys had his exact hairline, the exact same sharp, stubborn set of the jaw, and eyes that were a piercing, familiar shade of dark grey. It was like looking into a distorted mirror that reflected his own childhood photos.

"Are you Adrian Cole?" Asher asked, stepping forward and crossing his little arms over his chest. He didn't look intimidated by the massive office or the imposing billionaire staring down at him.

Adrian swallowed hard, his voice unusually gravelly. "Who allowed you up here? Where are your parents?"

"Our mommy is currently working downstairs," Aiden answered calmly, pushing his glasses up his small nose. He tapped his tablet, closing the security bypass program he had used to override the elevator. "We bypassed your administrative firewall because we required an immediate face-to-face consultation. Our arrival was precisely timed to avoid your secretary's bathroom break."

Adrian’s mouth opened slightly, but no sound came out. A five-year-old had just admitted to hacking his private executive security system.

"We are here to interview you," Ava chimed in, walking right up to the edge of the desk and placing her hands on the polished wood. She tilted her head, her big eyes blinking up at him with a practiced, melting sweetness. "Are you married, Mr. Cole? Do you have a girlfriend who is mean and loud?"

"I... what?" Adrian stammered, completely stripped of his usual cold, unshakeable composure. "No. I am not married."

"Perfect!" Ava clapped her hands together, turning to her brothers with a triumphant grin. "See? I told you he was single!"

"Let's stick to the criteria, Ava," Asher reprimanded his sister gently before looking back at Adrian with a serious, evaluating gaze. "Our mommy works very hard. She has to pay for Aiden's medicine, and her back hurts every night from sitting at her desk. She deserves a husband who is very rich, very smart, and can buy her a big house with a spa."

"We have reviewed your financial portfolios, your medical credentials, and your lack of a criminal record," Aiden added, holding up the tablet. "Statistically, you are the highest-ranking candidate in a fifty-mile radius. We are offering you the position of our new Daddy. In exchange, you get to marry our mommy. She is very beautiful and makes the best chocolate chip pancakes."

Adrian sat frozen in his leather chair, his heart pounding in a way it hadn't in exactly five years. He looked at the three children, his mind racing through the impossible, absurd reality standing right in front of him. They looked just like him. They spoke with a sharp, terrifying intelligence that mirrored his own. And then there were those eyes—dark, striking, and hauntingly familiar.

"What is your mother's name?" Adrian demanded, his voice trembling as he leaned forward, gripping the edge of his desk so hard his knuckles turned white.

Before Asher could answer, the heavy double doors of the office were violently thrown open, slamming against the mahogany walls with a loud, echoing crash.

"Asher! Aiden! Ava!"

I burst into the room, gasping for air, my chest heaving violently as I clutched the doorframe for support. My hair was a wild, tangled mess from sprinting up thirty flights of stairs, and my face was flushed red with pure, unadulterated terror. Sweat lined my brow, and my heart felt like it was about to explode right out of my chest.

"Mommy!" Ava cheered, waving her stuffed rabbit in the air.

At the sound of my voice, Adrian slowly rose from his chair, his tall, imposing frame casting a long shadow across the room. He turned his head, his piercing gaze shifting away from the triplets and locking directly onto me.

The moment our eyes met, the entire world stopped. The ticking of the clock vanished. The distant sounds of the city traffic faded into absolute nothingness.

Adrian’s eyes widened in profound, undeniable shock. The color completely drained from his face as his gaze traced the contours of my features, locking onto my eyes—the exact same eyes he had spent the last five long years trying to find, the ones that had haunted his dreams every single night since that passionate, reckless night in the VIP suite.

He took a slow, hesitant step around his desk, his voice barely a whisper but echoing with absolute certainty.

"Sienna?"