Chapter 3 - Someone Wanted the Baby Before It Was Born
By sunrise, Dominic’s estate had become a fortress inside a fortress.
Norah counted fourteen guards before breakfast.
There were probably twice that many she did not see.
Every exterior gate was locked.
Every delivery was suspended.
Lily’s preschool received notice that she would be staying home.
Norah’s room was moved to the family wing.
She hated that most.
“This is unnecessary.”
Dominic stood beside the doorway while two house staff carried her clothes into a guest suite near Lily’s room.
“Doctor missing. Threatening photograph. Message mentioning my unborn child.”
He counted each point on his fingers.
“Tell me which part feels unnecessary.”
“The part where I become a prisoner.”
“You’re not a prisoner.”
“Can I leave?”
“No.”
Norah stared.
“That is an inconvenient definition of freedom.”
Dominic exhaled.
“If you want to leave once we know it’s safe, I’ll personally drive you wherever you want.”
“With an army?”
“Probably.”
She groaned.
He almost smiled.
The humor died when Luca arrived.
“Conference room.”
Dominic looked at Norah.
“Stay—”
She raised a finger.
“If the next word is here, I will throw something.”
His eyes flicked toward a ceramic lamp.
“You would regret that lamp.”
“Try me.”
He considered.
Then nodded.
“Come.”
The conference room occupied the eastern corner of the estate.
Six monitors displayed security feeds, maps, financial records, and photographs.
Dr. Aris’s image remained frozen on the largest screen.
Norah hated looking at it.
Luca pointed to another photograph.
A man leaving the clinic.
Forties.
Gray jacket.
Baseball cap.
“We identified him as Felix Marr.”
Dominic frowned.
“Orsini?”
“Former.”
“What does that mean?”
“He worked for Carlo Orsini until eighteen months ago.”
“And now?”
“Officially private security.”
Dominic laughed coldly.
“Officially.”
Norah studied the image.
“Could he have taken Dr. Aris?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
Dominic answered.
“To make me react.”
“By threatening a pregnant nanny?”
His eyes shifted toward her.
“Not a nanny.”
Norah’s pulse changed.
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t start calling me your woman or something equally prehistoric.”
Luca looked down.
Dominic looked offended.
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were thinking it.”
“I was thinking mother of my child.”
“That’s marginally better.”
Luca’s shoulders moved.
Dominic pointed.
“You laugh again, you’re working gate duty.”
“I coughed.”
Norah almost smiled.
Then she noticed another photograph.
Felix Marr beside a woman.
The woman wore a red coat and large sunglasses.
Something about her felt familiar.
“Who is she?”
Luca enlarged the image.
Dominic went silent.
Norah looked at him.
“You know her.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
He did not answer immediately.
“Sofia’s sister.”
Norah stared.
“Lily’s aunt?”
“Vivienne.”
Norah had never met her.
“Why would your dead wife’s sister be with a man connected to your enemies?”
“That,” Dominic said, “is an excellent question.”
Vivienne Russo had vanished from the family orbit after Sofia died.
According to Dominic, she blamed him.
Not without reason.
Sofia had developed a rare autoimmune condition after Lily’s birth.
Dominic buried himself in business while doctors failed to control it.
Vivienne believed his neglect killed her sister.
Dominic never argued.
“She hates you.”
“Yes.”
“Enough to kidnap a doctor?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca interrupted.
“We found another issue.”
Of course they had.
Norah sat.
“What?”
“Dr. Aris accessed Norah’s medical record before she disappeared.”
“That’s normal,” Norah said.
“Then someone accessed it again thirty-eight minutes later.”
Dominic’s voice changed.
“What did they download?”
“Everything.”
Blood type.
Address.
Pregnancy measurements.
Estimated due date.
Emergency contact.
Norah felt exposed in a way she had never experienced before.
Someone out there knew the exact size of her unborn child.
“Can they know the sex?”
Luca looked at her.
“The lab has genetic screening.”
Norah’s stomach tightened.
She had refused to learn.
Someone else might know before she did.
Dominic saw her expression.
“We’ll lock the records down.”
“It’s already out.”
“Yes.”
His voice softened.
“But you’re not.”
That evening, Dominic insisted a private obstetrician examine Norah at the estate.
Dr. Evelyn Price arrived with portable equipment and the weary patience of someone accustomed to wealthy people behaving irrationally.
“I’m going to say this once,” she told Dominic. “Pregnancy is not a hostage negotiation.”
Norah instantly liked her.
Dominic did not.
“You’ll tell me if anything is wrong.”
“I’ll tell the patient.”
“I’m the father.”
“You’re also blocking my light.”
Norah covered a laugh.
Dominic moved.
The ultrasound screen flickered.
The baby appeared.
Norah forgot everyone else.
A tiny hand.
Curved spine.
Movement.
Then—
a kick.
Dr. Price smiled.
“Very active.”
Dominic stared at the screen.
His face transformed.
Norah had seen him intimidate armed men by silence alone.
Now he looked almost afraid to breathe.
“Can it hear?”
“Some sounds, yes.”
Dominic stepped closer.
Norah noticed his hand resting near the edge of the bed.
Not touching her.
Waiting.
She took it.
His eyes dropped.
Then returned to the screen.
The baby moved again.
“There.”
Norah whispered.
Dominic’s fingers tightened around hers.
Dr. Price studied measurements.
“Growth is excellent.”
Dominic exhaled.
Then Dr. Price froze.
Only for half a second.
Norah noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing dangerous.”
“Doctor.”
She adjusted the monitor.
“There’s something interesting.”
Dominic’s posture stiffened.
“What?”
Dr. Price smiled.
“Your baby is apparently determined to end one mystery.”
Norah understood.
The angle.
“Oh.”
“You can look away if you don’t want to know.”
Norah hesitated.
Five months she had refused.
Knowing felt too real.
Too vulnerable.
Then she looked at Dominic.
He did not pressure her.
Her choice.
For once.
Norah swallowed.
“Tell me.”
Dr. Price smiled.
“It’s a boy.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
A son.
The phrase everyone outside would call him surfaced instantly.
Heir.
Norah hated it.
Dominic apparently did too.
“He is not an heir.”
Dr. Price blinked.
Norah looked at him.
Dominic stared at the screen.
“He’s my son.”
Something inside her broke open.
Not fear.
Something warmer.
Then the room’s lights died.
Instant darkness.
Dominic’s hand left Norah’s and reached beneath his jacket.
Emergency lights flashed red.
A gunshot sounded somewhere downstairs.
Then another.
Luca shouted through the radio.
“Breach! East corridor!”
Dominic immediately moved toward Norah.
“Get behind me.”
Dr. Price crouched beside the equipment.
Norah’s heart hammered.
Lily.
“Where’s Lily?”
Dominic froze.
Then his face went white.
The nursery wing alarm began screaming.
May you like
And over the radio came the sentence that transformed every man in the room.
“They’re inside the children’s wing.”
