Chapter 2

The words tore through my chest.

Years ago, Grant had knelt beside my hospital bed and held my hand while he made the same promise again and again.

"I don't need children. I only need you. If I lose you, I might as well die."

Now he was demanding to know why my damaged body should cost him the child he deserved.

The bedroom had dissolved into chaos. Household staff crowded around Vanessa, speaking softly as they tried to calm her. A sharp ache spread through my lower abdomen, and cold sweat soaked the back of my dress.

Before leaving New York, I had learned I was pregnant.

I had come to Paris planning to tell Grant in person. I had imagined the look on his face when I gave him the miracle neither of us had dared hope for.

Now there was no reason for him to know.

He already believed we would never have a child. I would let him keep believing it.

Grant held Vanessa as she cried against his chest. Relief filled his face, as if he had nearly lost the most precious thing in his world and had just gotten it back.

I turned and left without another word, forcing myself to walk through the pain.

Behind me, Vanessa cried out, "Grant, don't worry about me. Go after Claire. Apologize to her. I'm not worth this."

"Don't say that," he murmured. "You are worth it, Vanessa."

What a tragic pair of star-crossed lovers.

I took a cab to Charles de Gaulle Airport and called the best divorce attorney in Manhattan on the way.

After the kidnapping, Grant had created an irrevocable separation trust for my protection. If I ever chose to leave him, the trustee would transfer seventy percent of his personal shares and liquid assets to me. He had also signed a binding marital settlement waiving his right to challenge the transfer.

At the time, he said it was for my protection. Hale Holdings was growing fast, and so was the list of people who hated him. He wanted me financially secure if his enemies ever came after us again.

It turned out he had given me a way out after all.

By the end of the eight-hour flight home, my shattered heart had gone numb.

I went straight from the airport to my doctor.

"Are you certain?" she asked, unable to hide her shock. "Pregnancy was already close to impossible for you. If you end this one, you may never have another chance to carry a child."

I hesitated only a moment before nodding.

With the appointment papers in my hand, I wandered into the hospital corridor. My phone rang.

It was our house manager, and she sounded terrified.

"Mrs. Hale, you need to get to your mother's cemetery. Mr. Hale arrived with a construction crew and paperwork claiming you approved an exhumation. They're digging up the grave."

My mind went blank.

I ran into the pouring rain and raced to the cemetery. When I arrived, Grant stood beneath a black umbrella, coldly directing the workers.

"Stop!"

I stumbled through the mud and threw myself in front of my mother's headstone. Grant gave a slight nod to the men beside him. Two massive security guards seized my arms and held me back.

"Grant, this is my mother!"

I fought until my shoulders burned. Rain struck my face like blades.

"Vanessa has been having panic attacks because of you," he said. "She found some psychic online who told her the baby wouldn't be safe while your mother's grave faced east. Now she is obsessed with it, and stress is bad for the pregnancy. I won't take chances with my child."

His expression did not change.

"This is a burial plot, Claire. I am not risking a living child over it. Cooperate, and I'll have your mother reinterred somewhere beautiful."

Grant did not believe in psychics. He was destroying my mother's grave simply because indulging Vanessa was easier than telling her no.

Before I could answer, he turned away.

"Keep going," he told the workers. "Make her watch. Maybe she'll finally learn that I have indulged her for too long."

The guards forced me to my knees in front of the grave. I begged until my voice broke. I screamed until the sound disappeared into the rain. No one stopped.

Eventually, I sagged between the guards like a puppet with its strings cut.

I bit my lip until I tasted blood. Pain was the only thing that kept me conscious.

When it was over, I struggled toward the nearest car. A guard blocked my path.

"Mr. Hale said you have to walk home."

My answer was barely a whisper.

"Fine."