Chapter 1
Rowan did not ask his mother what she meant.
Not while Isolde was shaking.
Not while one hand was wrapped protectively beneath her stomach.
And not while half the baby shower stood frozen around the staircase.
“Hospital.”
Isolde looked at him.
“I didn’t fall.”
“You almost did.”
“The baby’s moving.”
“Hospital.”
His voice cracked slightly on the final word.
That ended the argument.
Rowan carried her to the car while his security director, Daniel Price, instructed guests not to delete photographs or videos of the incident.
Genevieve tried to leave.
Rowan stopped halfway through the foyer.
“Don’t touch her.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Understood.”
Rowan corrected himself.
“And don’t detain her unless police tell you to.”
That distinction mattered.
He had already lost control once.
He would not turn the rest of the night into a series of emotional decisions.
At the hospital, fetal monitoring showed a normal heartbeat.
No placental separation.
No bleeding.
No labor.
Isolde had bruising on one arm where Genevieve grabbed her and soreness from Rowan catching her suddenly, but she and the baby were physically stable.
The obstetrician recommended observation.
Rowan sat beside the bed.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Finally Isolde looked at his right hand.
“You slapped her.”
“Yes.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
“No.”
She seemed surprised.
Rowan looked down.
“I should have gotten you away from her.”
“She pushed me.”
“I know.”
“She could have killed our daughter.”
His jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“Then why are you acting like what you did is the important part?”
“I’m not.”
He looked at her.
“I’m saying I don’t get to teach our child that violence becomes acceptable when I have a good enough reason.”
Isolde’s eyes softened.
Then Daniel called.
“Rowan, something happened at your house.”
Rowan stood.
“What?”
The Mercer townhouse was twenty minutes from the mansion where the shower had been held.
At 10:43 p.m., while Rowan and Isolde were still at the hospital, an estate-services credential opened the rear entrance.
The alarm recognized it as authorized.
Security still received the notification because Rowan had ordered all access monitored after Genevieve’s threat.
“Who used it?”
“Audrey Kent.”
Rowan frowned.
Audrey had managed portions of the Mercer family office for almost seventeen years.
She had worked for Rowan’s late father before Rowan ever built his first company.
“Why is she at my house?”
“She says Genevieve instructed her to collect foundation documents from Isolde’s study.”
Rowan slowly turned toward his wife.
Isolde went still.
“What documents?”
She did not answer immediately.
Rowan saw it.
“Isolde.”
Her eyes filled.
“There are copies of foundation invoices in my desk.”
His voice became quieter.
“Why?”
“Because I found something.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Rowan stared at her.
Another secret.
Not the kind Genevieve had threatened to reveal.
Something different.
“What did you find?”
Isolde looked toward the fetal monitor.
“I think your mother has been moving money out of the Mercer Family Foundation.”
Rowan said nothing.
Daniel remained on the phone.
“Sir?”
Rowan’s eyes stayed on Isolde.
“Do not let Audrey enter the study.”
“Understood.”
“Call police if she refuses to leave.”
“Yes.”
“And preserve the access log.”
Rowan ended the call.
Then sat beside his wife again.
“You were investigating my mother.”
“I was trying to make sure I wasn’t wrong.”
“And she knew.”
Isolde nodded.
Rowan remembered Genevieve smiling through the shock of his slap.
May you like
Don’t leave Isolde alone tonight.
For the first time, the warning had a location.
