We didn’t route to Dominic’s apartment. We drove straight to the Brooks estate in the Hamptons.

As the heavy security gates parted, I felt the immediate safety of the world I’d willingly walked away from in the name of love—and to which I was now returning for sheer survival.

The grand estate was fully lit, immaculate, and entirely quiet. Waiting at the grand entrance was my father.

Charles Brooks didn’t move to embrace me right away. First, his sharp eyes scanned my pale complexion. Then his gaze shifted to the infant resting in the nurse’s arms.

His eyes, normally cold and unyielding in international boardrooms, filled with a terrifying, quiet fury.

“You’re inside the perimeter,” he said flatly. “That’s the only thing that matters now.”