LOGINDarius returned to the hotel.Silas had not moved from the chair beside the windows. A set of financial reports lay open on the table before him, but he was no longer reading them. The moment Darius entered, Silas looked up. “Well?”“She reached the sixth floor.”“And?”“Security stopped her.”Silas’s face remained still. “Of course they did.”Darius closed the door behind him. “Kennedy reserved the entire floor. There were guards at the elevators and stairwell. She had no realistic way to reach Shannon.”“She knew about the security before she arrived.”“Yes.”“Yet she walked through the main entrance, entered the public elevator and presented herself directly to Kennedy’s men.”Darius said nothing.Silas slowly closed the report. “She wanted to be stopped.”“She was frightened.”“So are most people when they become useful to me.”“She may need time.”Silas rose.The movement was unhurried, but Darius’s shoulders stiffened as he approached.“Time?” Silas repeated. “I gave her freedom
“A man had me brought to him yesterday. He was the one who arranged the attorney after the station.”“What man?”“I don’t know his name.”“What does he want?”“Everything.” Her words came faster as panic overcame caution. “He said he controls most of what remains of Vale Group. He wants Kennedy’s empire too.”Sean stepped closer. “What? And why did he send you here?”Evelyn looked away.“Why are you here?”“He told me to make her lose the baby.”The silence between them became terrifying.Sean’s face emptied of every emotion.Evelyn backed away. “I told him I wouldn’t.”“Where is he?”“I don’t know.”“Where did you meet him?”“A hotel. The entire upper floor was empty. They took my phone before letting me inside.”“What did he look like?”“Older, calm, and like none of this means anything to him.”Sean reached for his phone. “You’re coming with me.”“No.”“You just admitted someone ordered you to harm Shannon.”“And if he finds out I told you, I’m dead.”“You think I care what happens
The rest of the clinic remained open. On the floors below, patients moved between departments. Nurses pushed carts through busy corridors. Visitors crowded the main lobby while cars entered and left the underground parking area, but the sixth floor felt unnaturally quiet.Shannon sat beside Amelia in the private waiting room, one hand resting on her stomach. The baby had been moving since they left the estate. Small, persistent movements pressed beneath her palm as though protesting the disturbance.Amelia noticed. “Again?”Shannon nodded.A soft smile touched her mother’s face. “Already giving you trouble.”“She’s been restless all morning.”“She?”Shannon looked down. “I don’t know. It just feels like a girl today.”Amelia laughed quietly. “Your father is convinced it’s a boy.”“Dad is convinced about everything.”The smile faded from Shannon’s face almost immediately. Her gaze moved towards the empty chair on her other side.Sean should have been sitting there.Before the investiga
Evelyn did not remember leaving the hotel.She remembered Darius returning her phone, she remembered walking towards the elevator without allowing herself to look back. She remembered the doors closing and seeing her reflection in the mirrored walls.Her face had looked unfamiliar.By the time she reached home, her hands were still shaking.She locked the door behind her, then checked it twice. The curtains were drawn. Every window was closed. Nothing appeared disturbed, yet the silence no longer felt safe.The man had known where Shannon would be. He had known the exact stage of her pregnancy. He knew about the police investigation, Sean’s suspension and the collapse of Vale Group. He had taken control of companies worth millions while Edward believed Kennedy had stolen them.If a man like that wanted to enter Evelyn’s home, a locked door would not stop him.She walked into her bedroom and dropped her bag onto the floor. Her shoes followed, then she climbed onto the bed without chang
The direct answer unsettled her. Silas made no attempt to pretend otherwise. There was no promise of partnership, no false assurance that they wanted the same thing. In his eyes, she was not an ally, she was a tool.Evelyn reached for her bag before remembering Darius still had her phone. “I’m leaving.”“No, you are not.”She looked back at him. “You can keep your attorney and whatever protection you think you gave me. I’ll handle my own problems.”“You have seen my face.”Evelyn’s hand stopped above the back of the chair.“You know I control what remains of Vale Group,” Silas continued. “You know I intend to take the Miles empire, and you know what I require from you.”“You’re threatening me because I won’t hurt a baby?”“I am explaining why you cannot walk out of this room.”For the first time since she entered, Evelyn noticed how quiet the suite was.The doors were closed. Her phone was gone. No hotel staff had entered since Darius brought her upstairs, and she had not seen anothe
Evelyn arrived at the hotel believing she had been invited to meet the man who had rescued her. The private suite occupied the entire upper floor. Darius searched her bag and took her phone before allowing her inside. Evelyn disliked that immediately. “I was told this was a business meeting.”“It is,” Darius said.“Then I would prefer to keep my phone.”“No.”Before she could argue, the doors opened.Silas sat near the windows with a glass of untouched liquor beside him. He watched Evelyn enter without standing.She had expected an attorney, perhaps an investor who admired her family or someone with influence over the police. She had not expected a stranger who looked at her as if he already knew every mistake she had ever made.“You asked to see me?” she said.“Sit.”Evelyn remained standing for another second before taking the chair opposite him.Silas dismissed Darius with a glance.“You want to know why you are here,” he said.“I want to know who you are.”“That is not important.
The first thing Shannon felt was the weight, like her entire body had been dragged beneath something heavy and invisible, pressing her down into a darkness that refused to let her rise.Then came the sound, a slow, steady beep... beep... beep...It echoed from far away at first, distant and unreal,
The hospital discharged them the next day.Shannon didn’t know whether that was fate or cruelty.She stood just outside the building, her fingers gripping the thin discharge papers in her hand as the sunlight hit her face. Too bright. Like the world hadn’t just ended for her.A few steps ahead Rowa
Shannon’s knees weakened beneath her. Three months of silence. Three months of absence. Three months where she wasn’t there. Her breathing grew uneven. Three months where someone else was. Her gaze slowly shifted back to Rowan. And this time she understood. Rowan watched her, something sharp
Rowan sat on the bed, his arm wrapped loosely around Evelyn.Evelyn stood close, too close, and Rowan leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek like it was the most natural thing in the world.Like he had done it a hundred times.Like it belonged there.“Stop!”The word tore out of Shannon befor







