Refuse, and you will raise that child with no support from us whatsoever.” I almost smiled.

Because before I had gone into labor, my attorney had warned me, in precise terms, that they might attempt exactly this, at exactly this moment of maximum vulnerability.

My twelve-percent stake in Vance Development was not a sentimental thing.

It was the single obstacle standing between Caleb and total, unchecked control of the company, and they needed it, badly, and they had decided that a hospital bed, hours after childbirth, was the ideal place to extract it from the daughter they assumed was too weak to refuse.

“You both need to leave,” I said.