Chapter 4 - Whose Baby Is This?
By breakfast, the estate felt different.
Nothing visible had changed.
The same guards stood outside.
The same coffee brewed in the kitchen.
The same sunlight streamed through the windows.
But Norah noticed Dominic everywhere.
Not physically.
In the tightened security.
In the conversations that stopped when she entered a room.
In the two unfamiliar SUVs outside the east gate.
Dominic had told her to behave normally.
Norah had no idea what normal meant anymore.
Lily sat at the breakfast table eating strawberries.
“You’re staring,” Lily said.
Norah blinked.
“At what?”
“Nothing.”
“Then how can I stare at it?”
Norah smiled.
“Very philosophical.”
Lily pushed a strawberry toward her.
“Baby strawberry.”
Norah stared at it.
Lily tilted her head.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Children noticed everything.
That frightened Norah more than Dominic’s guards.
Later that morning, Dominic found her in the library organizing Lily’s books.
“You should sit.”
Norah ignored him.
“You’ve said that six times.”
“It remains good advice.”
“I’m shelving picture books, Dominic.”
“You’re stretching.”
“I’m five months pregnant, not ninety.”
His gaze went automatically to her stomach.
Norah caught him.
“Stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Looking at me like I might explode.”
“I’m adjusting.”
“So am I.”
Dominic lowered his voice.
“The man outside your room last night wasn’t ours.”
Norah stopped moving.
“What?”
“He was wearing one of my uniforms.”
“How did he get inside?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Did he hear us?”
“Possibly.”
Norah’s hand immediately covered her stomach.
Dominic noticed.
“Nothing is going to happen to you.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“I can.”
“No, you can’t.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“I can make it extremely difficult.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
His admission quieted her.
Norah sat.
“Who would care about the baby?”
“A lot of people.”
The answer came too fast.
She went pale.
Dominic continued.
“But none of them are getting close.”
“How?”
“I’m changing protocols.”
“You’re locking the house down?”
“For a few days.”
“And Lily?”
“She stays home.”
“She’ll notice.”
“She notices everything.”
Norah smiled faintly.
“That she does.”
Dominic leaned against the desk.
“Norah, I need to ask you something.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“Does anyone outside the clinic know?”
“No.”
“Friends?”
“No.”
“Family?”
Norah looked away.
Dominic knew almost nothing about her family.
Her emergency-contact form listed no parents.
No siblings.
Only a former college roommate in Colorado.
“No one,” she said.
“Good.”
“That’s a strange word for it.”
“I meant strategically.”
“I know.”
Dominic watched her.
“Why did you really keep it?”
Her head lifted sharply.
“The baby?”
“Yes.”
“You think I considered not keeping it?”
“I think you were alone and terrified. I’m not making assumptions.”
Norah studied him.
There was no judgment.
She relaxed slightly.
“I knew almost immediately that I wanted the baby.”
Dominic looked toward the window.
Norah noticed something unexpected.
Relief.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“You’re relieved?”
Dominic did not answer.
“You are.”
“I’m processing.”
“That’s Dominic Russo language for yes.”
The corner of his mouth moved.
Then the library door opened.
Lily entered carrying crayons.
“Why are you whispering?”
Dominic straightened.
“Adults talk.”
“That’s suspicious.”
Norah covered a laugh.
Lily climbed onto the couch beside her.
“Can we paint now?”
“Yes.”
Norah started to rise.
Dominic looked at her.
She pointed a warning finger.
“Don’t.”
He lifted both hands.
“I said nothing.”
Lily stared between them.
“What’s happening?”
“Nothing,” Norah said.
Lily narrowed her eyes.
“You’re both weird.”
Dominic left before his daughter could continue interrogating them.
For the first time since discovering the pregnancy, Norah almost felt normal.
That lasted until evening.
At six thirty, a guard brought Dominic an envelope.
No return address.
No stamp.
It had been left inside the outer gate.
Dominic opened it in his office.
Inside was a photocopy of a clinic receipt.
Norah Hayes.
Saturday.
Fourth Street Women’s Clinic.
Below the receipt, someone had written four words.
Congratulations on the heir.
Dominic stared at the message.
His head of security, Mateo Cruz, stood across the desk.
“How many people know?”
“Inside our organization? You and me.”
“And whoever entered the house.”
Mateo nodded.
Dominic turned the paper over.
Nothing.
“Could the clinic have been compromised?”
“Possible.”
Dominic thought about the timing.
Too fast.
Someone had been watching Norah before she entered that clinic.
“Bring Norah here.”
Mateo hesitated.
“She doesn’t know?”
“No.”
Five minutes later, Norah entered.
“You wanted me?”
Dominic handed her the envelope.
Norah read the words.
All color disappeared from her face.
“They know.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I’m finding out.”
She gripped the edge of the desk.
“What does ‘heir’ mean?”
“Exactly what you think.”
“I don’t know if the baby is a boy.”
“They don’t care. The word means leverage.”
Norah’s breathing changed.
Dominic came around the desk.
“Sit.”
This time she obeyed.
“I want to leave.”
“No.”
Her eyes flashed.
“You don’t get to decide.”
“If you leave tonight, you become easier to reach.”
“Or harder.”
“Norah, whoever sent this tracked you to a clinic without your phone.”
The implication settled over her.
“This started before Saturday.”
“Yes.”
“Someone has been watching me.”
“Most likely.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
Norah looked toward the door.
“Lily.”
“She’s safe.”
“If they know about the baby—”
“They will assume Lily matters too.”
“She already did.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What?”
“Lily has always been your weakness.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“She is not a weakness.”
“To your enemies, she is.”
He could not argue.
Norah stood.
“This is why I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“Of your world.”
That landed harder.
Dominic said nothing.
Norah touched the edge of the ultrasound photograph sitting on his desk.
He had brought it there without realizing it.
“Five months ago,” she said quietly, “I thought my biggest problem was telling you.”
Dominic followed her gaze.
“And now?”
“Now I’m afraid telling you was the easy part.”
At that exact moment, Mateo’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed instantly.
“What?”
Dominic straightened.
Mateo listened.
Then he looked directly at Dominic.
“The guard whose uniform was copied?”
“Yes?”
“We found him.”
“Where?”
“His apartment.”
Dominic waited.
Mateo’s voice dropped.
“He disappeared three days ago.”
Norah went still.
Dominic’s face became stone.
Someone had removed one of his security men.
Stolen his identity.
Entered Dominic’s home.
Listened outside Norah’s bedroom.
And sent a message proving they knew about the baby.
This was no longer surveillance.
It was preparation.
Dominic looked at Norah.
“For the foreseeable future, you stay beside me or Mateo.”
Norah shook her head.
“I’m not becoming a prisoner.”
“You’re not.”
“It sounds exactly like it.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Then call it something else.”
“Like what?”
His gray eyes held hers.
“Protection.”
And outside the estate walls, inside a parked sedan with darkened windows, a man lifted a phone to his ear.
“She knows now,” he said.
A distorted voice answered through the speaker.
“Good.”
The man watched the mansion.
“And the next step?”
A pause.
Then the voice said, “Make Russo believe the threat is coming from outside.”
The man smiled.
May you like
“Because it isn’t.”
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