For three years, Adrian Kane had forbidden anyone from entering the locked room where he mourned the wife he believed had burned to death. Then my three-year-old daughter wandered inside, climbed into the terrifying man's lap, and revealed the impossible: around her neck hung the one-of-a-kind locket Adrian had placed on his dead wife's throat on their wedding day.

I backed up until my shoulder blades hit the heavy oak frame of the door.

"She is my daughter," I said, my voice shaking, but my eyes refusing to drop. A mother's survival instinct was the only thing keeping my knees from buckling. "I raised her. I fed her. I stayed up with her through ear infections and night terrors. She is mine."

Adrian stepped closer, stopping mere inches from me. The smell of cedar, peat smoke, and cold air rolled off him. He towered over me, a dark silhouette against the dim room.

"I buried an empty coffin three years ago, Miss..." He paused, his sharp eyes raking over the brass name tag pinned to my black uniform tunic. "Vance. Maya Vance. The medical examiner handed me three pounds of dental fragments and burnt titanium from a crash site on Route 9 and told me my wife had been vaporized."

He lifted the locket with his free hand, holding it right before my eyes.

"Evelyn was eight months pregnant when her car was forced off the bridge," he hissed, his jaw clenching so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek. "They told me the baby died in the fire. They told me there was nothing left to bury. And yet, this child is wearing the chain I clipped around Evelyn's neck the morning she disappeared."

Nora stirred in his arms, letting out a soft whimper.

Instantly, the terrifying tension in Adrian's body softened. His fingers gently curved around the back of her head, shielding her eyes from the sliver of gray light. It was an instinctual, protective motion that looked so startling on a man known as an unfeeling monster that it took my breath away.

"You have ten seconds to tell me where you got this child," Adrian said, his voice dropping into a deadly whisper, "or I will call the federal authorities, and you will spend the rest of your life in an unmarked cell for kidnapping."

"I didn't kidnap her!" I blurted out, tears of frustration stinging my eyes. "She was given to me!"

Before Adrian could speak, heavy footsteps thudded down the hallway.

"Adrian?"

A tall man in a bespoke charcoal three-piece suit appeared in the doorway. Julian Kane. Adrian’s younger brother. Unlike Adrian's raw, unkempt darkness, Julian was polished to a razor edge—slicked-back blond hair, gold cufflinks, a smile that never reached his pale blue eyes. Behind him stood two burly security guards in dark tactical gear.

Julian stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes darting from me to Adrian, and finally landing on the little girl asleep in Adrian's arms.

For a fraction of a second, Julian’s mask slipped. Pure, unadulterated shock crossed his features, followed immediately by something cold, sharp, and terrifying.

"My god, Adrian," Julian said, his voice smooth as silk, though his posture stiffened. "You’ve finally come out of the tomb. But... what is this? Whose child are you holding?"

Julian stepped forward, reaching out a hand toward Nora. "Give her to security. We don't know who this maid is or what she's pulled here. Adrian, you're not well. The council is downstairs waiting for you to sign over the conservatorship."

Adrian didn't look at his brother. He didn't let Julian touch the hem of Nora's cardigan. Instead, Adrian took a single, deliberate step backward, shielding Nora with his shoulder.

"Touch her, Julian," Adrian said coldly, "and I'll break your arm in three places."

Julian froze. His hand hung suspended in the air. "Adrian, be rational. You haven't left this room in three years. You're suffering from a psychotic break. The staff has completely failed to secure the perimeter—"

"Maya," Adrian cut him off, his eyes still locked on his brother.

"Yes?" I squeaked.

"Take Nora."

Adrian turned and transferred the sleeping girl into my arms. The moment Nora was against my chest, my body relaxed, though my mind remained in sheer terror. Nora wrapped her arms around my neck, murmuring softly in her sleep.

Adrian turned his full, terrifying gaze back onto his younger brother.

"Julian, call Dr. Mercer. Have him bring a mobile DNA testing kit to the private study immediately."

Julian’s face tightened. "A DNA test? For a servant's stray child? Adrian, this is ridiculous. You’re embarrassing the family. The board of directors is downstairs—"

"If you don't call Mercer in the next thirty seconds," Adrian said, his voice dropping to an icy, lethal register, "I will walk down to the ballroom myself, take the microphone, and announce that I am revoking your proxy over Kane Global."

Julian went dead pale. The polished executive vanished, replaced by a cornered predator.

"Fine," Julian whispered through gritted teeth. "We'll do the test. But if this is a scam, Miss Vance won't just be fired. She'll be prosecuted."

Julian turned on his heel and barked orders to the guards.

Adrian stepped beside me, his tall frame a wall between me and the rest of the world. He looked down at Nora, then up at me, his eyes dark and piercing.