With a steady hand, I pulled my phone from my bag and dialed a priority line I’d spent years avoiding for my personal affairs.

“Dad,” I said the moment the line cleared.

“Audrey?” My father’s deep voice answered on the very first ring.

I swallowed hard, looked down at my sleeping son, and spoke with a terrifying calm. “Dad, I need you to dispatch a security detail to my apartment immediately.

Dominic just sent me home on a city bus with Leo, five days after my C-section. I am leaving him. Permanently.”

An immense, freezing silence deadened the line. When Charles Brooks spoke again, his voice was a low, terrifying growl.