The Best Of Enemies

Daniela walked hurriedly toward her husband's study, her heels clicking against the marble in quick, eager steps, the pile of ultrasound photos clutched to her chest like a treasure she couldn't wait to share. She had to give him an update on her checkup; she was on her third month now, and each week that passed felt like a small miracle she was almost afraid to believe in.She could see it, the change in him. Marco, who had once filled every room with a cold, suffocating intimidation, who had looked through her more often than at her, had softened in ways she still didn't quite trust herself to name. He no longer wore that aloof mask around her—not entirely, anyway. He had personally arranged for chefs to prepare meals tailored to her pregnancy, insisting on nutrients and portions as though he had memorized a medical journal overnight, as though her body carrying his child had suddenly made her worth protecting.He came home earlier now too. Some evenings he would simply sit beside h

The villa was atop the mountain like a golden cage, all glass walls and well-maintained gardens overlooking the window; it made her dizzy to look down from her window, although it was beautifully maintained. She had spent two weeks here memorizing the guards' rotations, the gaps in the compound, and the hours when the staff left for the night shift change. She had one chance, and she intended to take it.She left in the dead of night, a small bag packed with nothing but cash she had hidden away and a change of clothes, moving through the gardens with her heart hammering so violently she was certain someone would hear it. She made it as far as the service road at the base of the property before the headlights caught her two black SUVs, silent until they weren't, cutting off her path in a movement that told her, with sickening clarity, that she had never really had a chance at all.They didn't hurt her. They didn't even raise their voices. They simply escorted her back, one on each side

She was in the middle of drafting a personal statement as to why she wanted to pursue medicine when Grace knocked softly on her door one afternoon in her seventh month, her expression carefully arranged.“Daniela,” she said. “We have a visitor.”“A visitor? Who? Daniela frowned, setting the laptop aside, one hand instinctively bracing against the small of her back as she rose. "Do I know them?"The words died in her throat the moment she stepped into the sitting room and saw who was perched on her sofa, legs crossed, lips curved into a smile mocking at her.Ashley Blair, Daniela came to know her name through a gossip magazine; she was an heiress, though their company was not doing so well. She and her brother relied on the projects given to Marco to survive, as they were his childhood friends. They were the only friends. Ashley had always been glued to Marco before his marriage as his plus one in many social events, but Marco had married her, and after that Ashley had gone abroad for