Chapter 2 - THE HEARTBEAT HE NEVER HEARD
Dr. Sloan did not answer immediately.
That two-second silence nearly destroyed Adrian.
“She’s healthy,” the doctor finally said. “Her heartbeat is strong, growth looks appropriate, and I don’t see anything alarming on the ultrasound.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Not dramatically.
Just once.
Emma knew him well enough to understand what that meant.
Relief had hit him so hard that he needed darkness for a second.
“But,” Dr. Sloan continued, “Emma’s blood pressure is higher than I’d like.”
Adrian’s eyes opened.
“How high?”
Emma sighed. “Remember the part about not interrogating my doctor?”
“I asked one question.”
“You asked it like you were preparing a deposition.”
Dr. Sloan almost smiled.
“We’ll monitor it. Emma has also been having some swelling. At thirty-four weeks, neither is automatically an emergency, but I want her resting more.”
Adrian looked at Emma’s ankles.
Then at her.
“You’re still working?”
Emma’s expression warned him.
He corrected himself immediately.
“Sorry. None of my business.”
“Good.”
“Except possibly a little of my business.”
“Adrian.”
He stopped.
Dr. Sloan printed several ultrasound images.
Emma reached for them.
Adrian did too.
Their fingers touched.
Both froze.
Six months disappeared for one dangerous heartbeat.
Emma remembered mornings in their old kitchen when Adrian would come downstairs wearing a thousand-dollar suit and steal strawberries from her cereal. She remembered falling asleep against him during terrible movies. She remembered his hand at the small of her back whenever they entered crowded rooms.
Then she remembered the divorce papers.
She withdrew her hand.
Dr. Sloan gave the photographs to Emma.
Adrian stared at them like a starving man watching someone carry bread away.
Emma noticed.
Against her better judgment, she separated one photograph from the strip.
She handed it to him.
His expression changed.
“For me?”
“One.”
He accepted it carefully.
“Thank you.”
The feared Adrian Moretti put the ultrasound photograph inside his wallet behind his driver’s license.
Emma looked away before that could mean anything.
Outside the clinic, rain had begun.
A black SUV waited at the curb.
“I can drive you home,” Adrian said.
“No.”
“Emma—”
“You promised.”
His jaw flexed.
“You’re right.”
She started toward the bus stop.
He stared.
“You’re taking a bus?”
She turned around. “Careful.”
Adrian visibly fought every controlling instinct in his body.
Nathan coughed into his fist to hide what might have been laughter.
Adrian tried again.
“Would you permit me to arrange transportation?”
“No.”
“Would you permit Nathan?”
“No.”
“A cab?”
“I already called one.”
Adrian looked almost offended that she had anticipated him.
Her cab arrived.
Before she entered, Adrian said, “Emma.”
She looked back.
“Why were you at the clinic?”
He hesitated.
“My sister.”
“Bianca?”
“She’s fine. Routine appointment. Nathan was bringing me paperwork nearby, and I came to pick her up.”
Emma nodded.
Then Adrian asked the question he had clearly been holding back.
“Where do you live?”
“No.”
His face tightened.
“You disappeared.”
“I moved.”
“I know.”
The answer was too quick.
Emma stared at him.
“You looked for me?”
Adrian said nothing.
That was answer enough.
Emma climbed into the cab.
He stood in the rain watching until it disappeared.
Then his expression changed.
Nathan had seen that transformation before.
The vulnerable man vanished.
The head of the Moretti organization returned.
“Get Daniel Mercer.”
Nathan frowned. “Your divorce attorney?”
“Now.”
Twenty-seven minutes later, Daniel Mercer entered Adrian’s office and found an ultrasound photograph sitting in the center of the desk.
Mercer went pale.
Adrian stood beside the windows overlooking the Chicago River.
“Explain something to me.”
“Adrian—”
“Why did my wife believe I divorced her because she was a security liability?”
Mercer’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Adrian turned.
“I never authorized those words.”
Mercer swallowed.
“The circumstances were complicated.”
“No.”
Adrian walked toward him.
“They’re about to become very simple.”
He placed a copy of the divorce agreement on the desk.
“I told you to offer Emma whatever settlement she wanted, make sure she was protected, and keep the reason confidential until I dealt with the threat against her.”
Mercer’s face had lost all color.
Adrian continued.
“I told you the divorce was temporary protection.”
“You also told me she could never know about the threat.”
“I did not tell you to make her believe I stopped loving her.”
Mercer loosened his tie.
“There were concerns.”
“Whose?”
Silence.
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“Whose concerns, Daniel?”
Mercer finally whispered, “Your uncle.”
Adrian became motionless.
Carlo Moretti.
His father’s older brother.
The man who had helped raise Adrian after his parents died.
The man who sat on the board of Moretti Holdings.
The man who had spent years telling Adrian that love created weaknesses enemies could exploit.
“What did Carlo do?”
Mercer stared at the ultrasound photograph.
“He said Emma would never leave if she thought you still loved her.”
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“So you lied.”
“He threatened my family.”
Adrian stepped closer.
Mercer rushed on.
“Carlo said Emma was interfering with the succession structure. He said if you had children with her, everything would change.”
Adrian’s blood went cold.
“Children?”
Mercer nodded.
“I didn’t understand it then.”
Adrian did.
His grandfather’s trust.
A provision almost nobody discussed anymore.
Control of several Moretti family companies would transfer permanently to Adrian’s direct heir upon his death.
Without an heir, Carlo remained next in line.
Adrian looked down at the ultrasound photograph.
Suddenly, Emma’s pregnancy was not merely a secret.
It was a target.
His phone rang.
Nathan.
Adrian answered.
“What?”
Nathan’s voice was urgent.
“We have a problem.”
Adrian walked toward the window.
“What kind?”
“I sent someone to make sure Emma’s cab reached home safely.”
Adrian closed his eyes, already hearing her future accusation about violating boundaries.
Nathan continued.
“The cab never reached her apartment.”
Adrian opened his eyes.
“What?”
“It was followed.”
Every muscle in his body hardened.
“By whom?”
“We’re checking.”
Then Nathan said the words that made the entire city seem to stop beneath Adrian’s feet.
“The car following her belongs to a shell company controlled by Carlo Moretti.”
Adrian looked at the tiny ultrasound photograph on his desk.
His daughter had existed in his world for less than two hours.
May you like
Someone already knew.
And for the first time in years, Adrian Moretti was genuinely afraid.
