MY DAUGHTER

Time stopped making sense.

There was only pain.

Breathing.

Voices.

And the desperate need to bring my baby safely into the world.

I kept thinking about Julian.

He was supposed to be here.

He was supposed to be holding my hand.

Instead, he was probably already on a plane with Celeste.

I closed my eyes.

For one terrible moment, I wondered if I had somehow failed as a wife.

Maybe I hadn’t been beautiful enough.

Maybe I hadn’t been loving enough.

Maybe I had been too busy preparing for our baby.

Then the doctor spoke.

“One more push.”

I gathered everything I had left.

And then—

A cry filled the room.

A tiny, furious cry.

My daughter.

Tears immediately filled my eyes.

“She’s here,” the doctor said.

I couldn’t speak.

They placed her against me.

She was so small.

So warm.

Her little fingers curled around mine.

“Hello,” I whispered.

My voice broke.

“Mommy’s here.”

I kissed her forehead.

And for the first time that night, I forgot about Julian.

I forgot about Celeste.

I forgot about the gunshots.

I forgot about Roman’s dangerous reputation.

There was only my daughter.

My little girl.

The life I had been terrified of losing.

Then the door opened.

Roman stood there.

His suit was torn.

There was blood on his sleeve.

But his eyes went immediately to my daughter.

“She made it,” he whispered.

I smiled through my tears.

“She did.”

He stepped closer.

For a man everyone seemed to fear, there was something surprisingly gentle in the way he looked at my baby.

Then his phone rang.

Roman answered.

“What?”

His expression changed.

He listened.

“Are you certain?”

Another pause.

His eyes moved toward me.

“Find him.”

He ended the call.

I knew immediately.

“What happened?”

Roman came toward my bed.

“Julian has disappeared.”

My smile vanished.

“What?”

“He left the city.”

“Where?”

“Vancouver.”

I stared at him.

“That was his flight.”

Roman nodded.

“And he didn’t go alone.”

My hands tightened around my daughter’s blanket.

“Who was with him?”

Roman pulled out his phone.

A photograph appeared on the screen.

Julian was walking through a private terminal.

Beside him stood the same man I had never seen before.

But something else caught my attention.

The black leather folder.

The one Julian had carried everywhere for weeks.

My blood went cold.

“What’s in that folder?”

Roman looked at me.

“That’s what we’re going to find out.”