Chapter 3

Tessa doesn't try to stop me again. I think the look in my eyes tells her exactly what will happen if she does.

I burst out of the house with Rosie in my arms. The family driver is still out front.

"Children's hospital. Drive. NOW."

By the time we get through the ER doors, Rosie is completely unconscious.

"Help! Someone help me! My daughter—she's not breathing—"

A nurse rushes over, takes one look, and calls a code.

"Severe allergic reaction. Get her in now. Prep for gastric lavage. Mom, I need you to go to the billing desk."

They take her from my arms. They put her on a gurney and wheel her through those double doors, and I stand there watching them disappear with my baby, my hands shaking, tears running down my face.

She's going to be okay. She has to be okay.

I go to billing.

"I need to pay for my daughter's treatment. Rosie Devlin."

The clerk types, waits, types again. Frowns.

"Mrs. Devlin, all four of your cards have been frozen. None of them are going through."

I stare at her.

Four cards. Every single family account. There's at least ten million dollars across those accounts—money that came from my family, my inheritance, my blood.

Frozen.

There's only one person who could do that. The person I stupidly gave full access to everything.

Colin.

I call him. For once, he actually picks up.

But before I can open my mouth, he's already screaming.

"Natasha, have you lost your mind?! Tessa is someone I personally brought in to take care of Rosie, and you put your hands on her?"

"I run the family. My word is law in this house. Get back here right now and apologize, or you're going to find out what happens when you cross me."

I can't believe what I'm hearing.

"Colin. Listen to me. Rosie is in the emergency room right now. That woman forced Rosie to eat peanuts. Rosie almost died. She is in there right now fighting for her life, and you want me to APOLOGIZE?"

"Bullshit! Tessa is a certified expert. I told her about Rosie's peanut allergy myself—she would never do that. You're just jealous because she's younger and more qualified than you'll ever be, so you make up lies to get rid of her. You know what, Natasha? You're pathetic."

"I—"

He laughs. Actually laughs.

"I'm the Don, Natasha. Everything in this family moves because I say so. You want your accounts back? Go home. Apologize to Tessa. If she forgives you, maybe I'll think about it."

Click.

He hangs up on me.

I stand there in the hospital hallway, phone in my hand, tears drying on my face.

My daughter is behind those doors. Unconscious. Maybe dying. And my husband just laughed at me and told me to beg the woman who poisoned her.

I can't think about this right now. Rosie needs me.

I call Sal.

"Sal. St. Mary's Children's ER. Bring cash. Rosie's in critical care and that son of a bitch froze every account I have."

A pause. When Sal speaks, his voice is low and steady. The same voice I remember from when I was a little girl sitting on my father's knee.

"I'm on my way. And Miss Devlin—say the word, and this ends tonight."

"Not yet. Just get here."

The bill gets paid. Rosie is still in surgery—stomach pump, IV steroids, oxygen support.

I sit on the cold bench in the hallway. The red light above the OR door burns steady.

Eight years. I married Colin when I was twenty-two. We grew up together—after his parents died, my mom and dad took him in, raised him like their own son.

When my father passed, the family was mine. The seat, the men, the money, the name—all mine. But I didn't want to rule alone. I loved Colin. I trusted him. So I made him the Don and stepped back, because I thought that's what a good wife does.

I handed a nobody the keys to a kingdom. And now he can't even keep our daughter alive.

Was any of it worth it? Was he ever worth it?

My phone buzzes. A video. From Tessa's number.

I open it.

Colin is lying on the couch at home. His head is in Tessa's lap. She's cleaning the bruise on his cheek—gently, carefully, like he's the one who got hurt. He looks up at her like she's made of glass.

Tessa's voice comes through, sweet as poison.

"Your wife really messed me up, babe. But you came straight home the second you heard. That means a lot."

She giggles.

Then the camera shifts. Tessa looks right into the lens.

"Hey, Natasha. How's your daughter? I heard serious allergic reactions can be fatal. And you can't even pay the hospital bill? That's rough."

The video ends.

I set the phone down.

My hands aren't shaking anymore.

I pick it back up and dial.

"Sal. I want it all back. The title. The accounts. The men. Every single thing I gave him. By morning, Colin Marsh is nobody again. And that woman—find out who she really is. Where she came from. What she wants. I want everything, and I want it tonight."