“No! I wasn’t!” Her hands fell to her mouth. She had never admitted that out loud.Lucien felt an icy stab in his chest. Jealously, anger, pain, betrayal all swirled within him. But the worst is that he knew he had no one to blame but himself.“Lucien.”she squeaked. “I wasn’t going to tell you. I was afraid. You hurt me so much. To protect myself I thought it was best to never see you again.”“You’ll never know how much I regret that.”“I wanted to hate you… but I…” she gasped. A sharp pain shot through her belly. She grabbed the edge of the table for support.“What is it?” Tracy and Lucien shot up and said in unison.Another stab of pain shot through Audrey, taking her breath away.“I think… I think I’m having contractions.”“Don’t panic,” Audrey stood, taking control of the situation. “The go bag is already packed. I’ll call the doctor and then Damian on the way there.” She delegated.“No!” Lucien yelled. “Why him? Why does he get to be a part of this? Why do you need him and not me

How is that going?”“About as well as you’d expect.”“When are you coming home? Carl and I miss you.”“I miss you both too. I’ll go home after she has the baby. I want to be here for her.”“Okay. Tell Lucien I said hi. I’ve called him and he hasn’t answered. I imagine he’s preoccupied.”“Yeah, he is. I’ll tell him. Kiss our baby good night for me.”Tracy hated being away from her son, but she had to be there for her friend. She could only hope her child had a friend like that someday. Someone to watch over him no matter what.The three of them slept in the hospital room. Lucien slept on a pullout sofa, and Tracy shared the bed with Audrey. The night was peaceful, quiet. Each of them slept, their dreams taking them in very different directions.Suddenly, Tracy felt something squeezing her hand.“Audrey?” Tracy rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “What’s happening?”Audrey’s eyes were screwed shut, and her hold on Tracy’s hand tightened.“My water broke. Everything hurts. I think… I think t

“I know this seems like a lot. But you’ll see,” Minnie winked. “You’ll be thankful for the help.”“And the company,” Kelly said.Audrey quickly learned they were right. Kelly was sweet, attentive, and caring. Minnie was snarky, sarcastic, and funny. She liked them immediately. It was clear that they knew what they were doing, as they were an immense help to just that first night alone.Audrey had no idea that babies got up every two hours, and by morning she was a frazzled mess. It would have been a million times worse if Minnie and Kelly hadn’t been there.Bella’s first week home, Lucien was there every day.Audrey had begun to get used to his presence and actually looked forward to his visits.“Sorry I’m late,” he said one day.“Just in time for dinner,” Minnie said, ushering him to the table.Bella’s bassinet had been set up by the table.“Hi, Lucien.”Audrey said as she emerged from the nursery. “Look, she opened her eyes.They were right.Lucien looked at his daughter and bright h

“I…” her words were stuck in her throat. “I want to trust you. I do. But your track record doesn’t help.”“I’m not that man anymore, Audrey.”He yearned to reach out for her hand, but he wasn’t allowed to touch anyone, and the guard was watching like a hawk.“Prove it. I’ve had enough of your words. You need to show me. I’ve changed to!”The moment hung between them, and it was everything Lucien could do to keep from grabbing her and kissing her until she begged for air.“I will prove it. You’ll see. But you don’t need to worry about this. At least not yet.”“Fine,” she softened a little. Audrey had come over with the intent to read him the riot act. Her anger burned in her body, a raging fire that smoldered in her soul. The fire soon changed from rage to worry as she walked in saw Lucien.He was a far cry from the sleek, sophisticated man she knew. His skin lacked its signature glow, and his gorgeous face was hidden beneath a scraggly beard. She wouldn’t have recognized him if not for

I’ll ask Lucien about it. It’s his company, right?”“That’s the problem,” she huffed. “After everything that happened, I went through all the paperwork and saw that it didn’t say ‘Reynolds Industries’ on it anywhere.”“How is that possible?” Audrey asked.“I asked Dad about it. He told me that the project manager explained that Reynolds Industries had handed the building over to one its subsidiaries. Dad had the good sense to question it at first, but after he saw those dollar signs, all good sense flew out the window.”“That’s suspicious,” Audrey said.“It gets worse. I contacted Reynolds Industries to confirm all of this. The subsidiary is a company called RS Holdings. It was under the Reynolds Industries umbrella but had been operating alone for years.”“Like they broke away?”“More like Reynolds Industries pushed them away. The woman I spoke to wouldn’t say much. But she told me that RS Holdings was a stand-alone company now.”“This is getting shadier and shadier by the second,” T