Chapter 1 - The Picture in His Hand
“I have a mass.”
The lie left Norah Hayes’s mouth before she had time to hate herself for it.
Dominic Russo stood six feet away in the marble hallway, one hand resting in the pocket of his black trousers. He had changed since returning to the estate. The bruised Henley was gone, replaced by a black dress shirt, black vest, and jacket that made him look less like an exhausted father and more like the man half the city whispered about.
His pale gray eyes did not move.
“A mass.”
Norah swallowed.
“In my abdomen.”
“Benign?”
“They think so.”
“Which doctor?”
Her heart jumped.
“I don’t remember her name.”
Dominic’s expression changed by less than an inch.
That was enough.
“You went to a medical clinic without knowing the doctor’s name.”
“I was nervous.”
“You took two buses, paid cash, left your phone here, bought tampons you don’t need, and returned after dark.”
Norah’s stomach tightened.
Of course he had checked the grocery bags.
Of course he had noticed the tampons.
Dominic Russo noticed the direction dust fell when a door opened.
Norah folded her arms over her cardigan.
“I don’t appreciate being investigated.”
“You work inside a house where people have tried to kill my daughter.”
“I take care of Lily.”
“And you’re hiding something.”
She forced herself to meet his eyes.
Dominic stepped closer.
Norah backed toward the wall before she could stop herself.
His gaze dropped briefly to the movement.
That was a mistake.
Fear made people reveal what they wanted to protect.
“Take off the sweater.”
Her mouth went dry.
“No.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“That wasn’t—”
“I know. Not a suggestion.”
She heard the bitterness in her own voice.
Dominic stared at her.
Then something changed.
Not anger.
Regret.
He stepped back.
“I’m not going to force you.”
Norah almost laughed.
“Generous.”
His jaw shifted.
“You’re frightened of me.”
“I’m employed by you.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the safest one.”
A tiny voice interrupted them.
“Norah?”
Lily appeared at the end of the hall holding a stuffed rabbit.
Dominic immediately turned.
The little girl wore pink pajamas decorated with stars. Her dark curls stuck out in every direction.
“What are you doing awake?” Dominic asked.
Lily ignored him and looked at Norah.
“You promised story.”
Norah’s entire body softened.
“I know, Bug.”
She started toward Lily.
Something slipped from inside her coat.
A small square of glossy paper fluttered onto the marble floor.
Norah froze.
Dominic looked down.
Everything inside her stopped.
“No.”
She lunged.
Dominic was faster.
He picked it up.
His eyes lowered to the black-and-white image.
For three seconds, there was no sound in the hall.
Then four.
Then five.
Dominic’s face emptied.
It was worse than anger.
Norah stepped forward.
“Give it back.”
He did not move.
“Dominic.”
The name escaped before she could stop it.
She had never called him Dominic in front of him.
Always Mr. Russo.
His gaze lifted.
“What is this?”
She hated the question because they both knew.
Lily wandered closer.
“That’s a baby.”
Norah closed her eyes.
Dominic looked down at his daughter.
“How do you know?”
“Maria showed me when Aunt Rosa had the twins.”
Lily peered at the picture.
“Is that your baby, Norah?”
Norah could not speak.
Lily gasped.
“You have a baby in your tummy?”
Dominic’s eyes snapped toward Norah.
Lily ran forward and wrapped both hands carefully around Norah’s waist.
The sweater shifted.
The illusion broke.
There was no hiding it anymore.
Five months.
Twenty-one weeks.
A clearly rounded stomach beneath the thick cardigan.
Dominic stared.
Norah stepped backward instinctively.
His expression changed.
Shock first.
Then calculation.
Then something far more dangerous.
Memory.
Four and a half months earlier.
The safe room.
His shoulder bleeding.
Lily asleep beneath emergency blankets.
Twelve hours believing they might die before dawn.
One moment neither of them had spoken about since.
Dominic looked at the ultrasound.
Then at Norah.
“How far along?”
She said nothing.
His voice lowered.
“How far?”
“Twenty-one weeks.”
His face went still.
The arithmetic was instant.
Lily looked between them.
“Dad?”
Dominic handed the ultrasound back to Norah.
His fingers shook slightly.
Norah noticed.
That terrified her more than rage.
“Lily.”
He crouched.
“Go find Maria.”
“But—”
“Please.”
Dominic rarely said please.
Lily sensed something important.
She hugged Norah’s hip once.
“Don’t be scared. Babies are nice.”
Then she ran away.
The moment she disappeared, Dominic stood.
“Is it mine?”
Norah’s throat tightened.
He waited.
“Norah.”
“Yes.”
One word.
Barely audible.
It transformed the hallway.
Dominic took half a step backward.
For the first time since Norah had known him, Dominic Russo looked unprepared.
“You’re carrying my child.”
“Yes.”
“And you intended to tell me when?”
“I didn’t.”
His eyes sharpened.
“You planned to disappear.”
Norah looked away.
That was enough.
“When?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“Before or after the birth?”
“Stop interrogating me.”
“You hid my child from me for five months.”
“I protected my child.”
“From me?”
“Yes.”
The answer landed hard.
Dominic’s face changed.
Norah’s voice trembled despite her effort to control it.
“You track everyone. You decide where people go, when they leave, who they speak to. Lily has security guards outside preschool. Your enemies shoot at gates. Men come home bleeding.”
She pointed at the fading bruise on his cheek.
“You expect me to bring a newborn into this?”
Dominic said nothing.
“You would have taken control.”
“That’s what you think?”
“I know you.”
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“You know the man who pays you.”
“I know enough.”
Dominic approached, then stopped several feet away.
Deliberately leaving distance.
“You believed I would take the baby from you.”
Norah’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
His anger disappeared.
Completely.
That was somehow worse.
He looked wounded.
Not insulted.
Wounded.
“Norah.”
She wiped her cheek.
“I’ve seen powerful men decide mothers are inconvenient.”
“You think I would do that?”
“I didn’t know.”
Dominic turned away.
For a long time he stared toward the chandelier.
Then he asked quietly:
“Is the baby healthy?”
Norah blinked.
“Yes.”
“The appointment today?”
“Everything looked normal.”
“Any complications?”
“No.”
“Are you eating enough?”
The question nearly broke her.
“Dominic—”
“Answer.”
“Yes.”
His mouth tightened.
“You’ve been lifting Lily.”
“She’s four.”
“You’ve been carrying laundry baskets up three flights of stairs.”
“I’m pregnant, not dying.”
“Twenty-one weeks.”
“You learned that number ten minutes ago and already became unbearable.”
Something almost resembling a smile touched his mouth.
It vanished.
Then Dominic looked at the ultrasound again.
“Can I?”
Norah hesitated.
Finally, she handed it over.
He held it differently this time.
Not as evidence.
As something fragile.
His thumb remained carefully away from the image.
“That’s…”
He stopped.
Norah understood.
“Our baby.”
Dominic stared at the tiny profile.
His face softened in a way she had only ever seen around Lily.
Then footsteps approached.
Not Lily.
Fast.
Heavy.
Dominic instantly folded the ultrasound into his palm.
Luca Bellini, his security chief, appeared.
“Boss.”
“What?”
Luca looked at Norah, then back at Dominic.
“We have a problem.”
“What kind?”
“Someone accessed the clinic’s security system twenty minutes after Ms. Hayes left.”
Norah’s blood turned cold.
Dominic’s face became stone.
“Who?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Luca hesitated.
“But whoever it was downloaded the waiting-room footage.”
Dominic looked at Norah.
The ultrasound was still in his hand.
“Did the camera see why you were there?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca answered for her.
“It saw enough.”
Norah pressed both hands against her stomach.
Dominic’s entire posture changed.
The frightened, uncertain man vanished.
The Don returned.
Only now his fear had somewhere specific to point.
“My enemies know she’s pregnant.”
Luca nodded.
“Possibly.”
Dominic looked toward every doorway.
Every window.
Every shadow.
Then back at Norah.
“No more buses.”
She stiffened.
“Don’t start.”
“No more leaving alone.”
“You don’t own me.”
“No.”
His voice was deadly calm.
“But somebody out there just learned that the woman carrying my child exists.”
He handed the ultrasound back.
“And now they’re going to learn something else.”
“What?”
May you like
Dominic’s gray eyes hardened.
“Getting near you will be the most expensive mistake they ever make.”
