A voice answered on the first ring. “Audrey?”

I watched Dominic’s confidence waver.

“Grandfather,” I said calmly, “I need you at Saint Aurelia’s neonatal unit. And bring hospital security.”

I paused, looking at my former husband. “Someone has mistaken my silence for permission to destroy your great-grandchildren and me.”

PART 2

Dominic barked out a laugh. “Your grandfather? The dead one?”

Natalie covered her mouth, delighted. “Maybe the medication’s making her confused.”

I said nothing. Grandfather had erased himself from public life after my parents died in a plane crash when I was twelve. Reporters knew the billionaire Arthur Crestwood had one surviving heir, but no photo of me had surfaced since childhood. I went to ordinary schools under my mother’s surname, worked as an accountant, and turned down the bodyguards and penthouses he kept offering.

Dominic had married Audrey Brooks, the supposedly orphaned bookkeeper. He had no idea that Audrey Brooks controlled the Crestwood family trust.

The elevator doors opened eight minutes later.

First came two hospital security officers. Then the chief medical officer, the network’s general counsel, and Sophia Sterling, my grandfather’s private attorney. Arthur Crestwood came last, his silver cane striking the floor like a judge’s gavel.

Every nurse in the unit fell silent.

The color drained completely out of Dominic’s face.

Natalie whispered, “That’s Arthur Crestwood.”

Grandfather walked past them without a glance and knelt beside my chair. His ruthless expression cracked the moment he saw the incubators.