I looked at the folder and felt only calm. I could feel my baby’s heart beating against my chest. My parents thought I had no way out. They didn’t know I’d been planning for this exact moment for nine months.

“Do you really think Raymond has a buyer, Dad?” I asked, resting my hands on the table without touching his pen.

“Of course he has a buyer,” Reginald snapped. “He’s a real businessman. Unlike you.”

Before he could say another word, the heavy door swung open. The temperature in the room seemed to drop. A tall man stepped inside — and his arrival was about to take the Pembroke family apart.

The Man in the Doorway

He didn’t look like he belonged in a hospital. He wore a dark, expensive winter coat over broad shoulders, and he moved with the unhurried quiet of a man used to being obeyed.

It was Alistair Sanders.