EVA'S POV
Glass crunches under my shoes as I stand up. My ears ring from the explosion. Adrian's arms are still around me, protective, like he has any right to protect me now.
I shove him away hard. "Don't touch me!"
"Eva, you're bleeding—"
"I said don't touch me!" I look down. Small cuts on my arms from the glass. Nothing serious. But my hands shake as I pick up the brick.
The note wrapped around it is clear: STOP DIGGING INTO THE PAST OR THE CHILD DIES NEXT.
Bella. Someone's threatening my baby.
"We need to call the police," Adrian says, already pulling out his phone.
"No!" I grab his wrist. "No police. This is exactly what they want—attention, panic, chaos."
"Someone just threw a brick through your window with a death threat!"
"And calling the police won't stop them. It'll just let them know they're winning." I drop the brick and pull out my own phone. Call Nadia. "Where's Bella?"
"Still at preschool. I'm sitting outside in the car. Nobody's getting near her." Nadia pauses. "What happened? I heard glass breaking through the office cameras."
"Someone threw a brick through my window. Get Bella now. Don't wait for normal pickup. And Nadia? Take her somewhere safe. Somewhere nobody knows about."
"On it. Eva... should I be scared?"
"Yes. Be very scared. And be very careful." I hang up.
Adrian watches me. "Who has her? Your friend?"
"That's none of your business."
"She's my daughter too!"
"No, she's NOT!" I spin to face him. Blood pounds in my ears. "You don't get to call her your daughter! You don't get to act like you care! Where were you when I was pregnant and alone? Where were you when I gave birth with no one holding my hand? Where were you for her first steps, her first words, her first everything?"
Adrian's face crumples. "I didn't know—"
"You DID know! I showed you the video! Your mother told you I might be pregnant before the arrest!"
"I don't remember that conversation! I swear, Eva, I—"
"Convenient how you don't remember!" I'm shouting now. Can't stop. Five years of pain exploding out. "You don't remember being told about the pregnancy. You don't remember having doubts about my guilt. You don't remember anything that makes you look worse than you already do!"
"You're right." Adrian's voice breaks. "You're absolutely right. I'm a coward who chose his family over you. I'm a monster who destroyed an innocent woman. I'm a failure who missed four years of his daughter's life. I'm all of that and worse."
His honesty stuns me into silence.
Adrian steps closer. Glass crunches under his feet. "But I'm also the man who spent two years searching every corner of the earth for you. Who fired his entire family when he learned the truth. Who liquidated half his assets to pay back everyone they hurt. Who hasn't slept more than three hours a night since you disappeared because guilt eats him alive."
"That doesn't fix anything!"
"I know! Nothing fixes this! But I'm trying, Eva. I'm trying to be the man I should have been five years ago."
"It's too late!" Tears burn my eyes. I won't cry. Won't give him that. "You can't undo what you did. You can't give me back those years. You can't—"
My phone rings. Unknown number. Again.
I answer on speaker. "What do you want?"
The distorted voice laughs. "Still so brave, Evangeline. Even with your daughter's life on the line."
"Touch her and I'll destroy you."
"You can't destroy what you can't find." The voice pauses. "But I can find you. Find your daughter. Find everyone you love. Unless you do exactly what I say."
Adrian moves beside me, listening.
"What do you want?" I ask again.
"Leave Manhattan. Tonight. Take your daughter and disappear again. Forget about revenge. Forget about Adrian Thorne. Forget everything."
"And if I don't?"
"Then little Bella has an accident. Nothing too dramatic. Maybe her brakes fail when Nadia drives her. Maybe she falls at the playground. Maybe she just... disappears. Like you did."
My blood turns to ice. "You're bluffing."
"Am I? Look out your broken window, Evangeline. Look at the building across the street. Third floor, second window from the left."
I walk to the shattered window. Look where the voice said. See a figure standing in the window across the street. They wave at me.
"We're always watching," the voice says. "Always close. You can't protect her from us."
The call ends.
I stare at the figure across the street. They don't move. Just stand there, watching.
"Eva—" Adrian starts.
"Get out." My voice sounds dead. Empty.
"No. Not when someone's threatening you and Bella."
"This is YOUR fault! Your family, your company, your problems! Someone from your world is doing this!"
"Then let me help! Let me—"
"You've helped enough!" I turn on him. "Everything you touch turns to poison! Everyone you claim to love ends up destroyed! So get out of my office before you destroy what's left of my life!"
Adrian flinches like I slapped him. Good. I want him to hurt.
"I'm not leaving you alone when you're in danger," he says quietly.
"You don't get a choice."
"Actually, I do." Adrian pulls out his phone. Makes a call. "James? I need security detail. Full team. Monroe Capital building and Eva's residence. Now."
"What are you doing?" I demand.
"Protecting my daughter's mother. Whether you like it or not."
"I don't need your protection!"
"Yes, you do. Someone just threatened to kill Bella. I'm not letting that happen."
"You don't have any say in—"
The lights go out.
The entire building plunges into darkness. Emergency lights flicker on, casting everything in red.
"What the hell?" Adrian moves closer to me.
Then the fire alarm starts blaring.
People scream in the hallway. Footsteps thunder past my office door. Everyone's running for the exits.
"It's a distraction," I whisper. "They cut the power to create chaos. To get to—"
My phone rings. Nadia. I answer with shaking hands.
"Eva!" Nadia's voice is panicked. "Someone's following me! Black SUV, tinted windows. They've been on my tail since I left the preschool!"
"Where's Bella?"
"In the car seat. She's scared, Eva. The sirens are freaking her out."
Through the phone, I hear Bella crying. "Maman? Maman, where are you?"
My heart shatters. "I'm here, baby. Mama's here. You're going to be okay."
"I can't lose them!" Nadia's voice rises. "They're getting closer! Eva, what do I—"
The line goes dead.
"Nadia? NADIA!" I scream into the phone. Nothing. Call disconnected.
I try calling back. Straight to voicemail.
"No. No, no, no, no." I dial again. Again. Again. Nothing.
Adrian grabs my shoulders. "What happened?"
"Someone's chasing Nadia and Bella. The call cut off. I can't reach them. I can't—"
My phone buzzes. Text message from unknown number. It's a photo.
Nadia's car. Stopped on the side of a road. The driver's door is open. Empty.
The back door is open too.
Bella's car seat is
empty.
The message below the photo says: You should have listened. Now we have her.