Chapter 1
She leaned forward and sniffed with dramatic concentration.
“A little.”
One corner of his mouth rose.
“How bad?”
“Like old soup instead of dead chicken.”
Grace covered her face. “I am so sorry.”
Adrian laughed. The sound was weak, but it was real.
“Old soup is progress.”
He held out his hand. Lily placed her tiny fingers inside it.
Dr. Brooks later told him everything. The infection had been introduced during surgery. At first, she assumed accidental contamination, but the strain was unusual and the surgical instruments had supposedly passed every sterilization check.
Adrian listened without interrupting. When she finished, he looked at Lily.
“You stayed because you thought I was in danger?”
The girl nodded. “Everybody wanted me to go.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Lily looked confused by the question. “Because you would be alone.”
Something moved behind Adrian’s eyes. Grace had seen him face armed men without blinking. She had watched him remain expressionless while receiving news that would have broken other people. But her daughter’s answer nearly undid him.
He closed his hand gently around Lily’s fingers. “Then I suppose I’m alive because you’re more stubborn than everyone in this building.”
Lily smiled. “I’m very stubborn.”
“Yes,” Grace murmured. “We have established that.”
When Adrian returned to his estate two weeks later, the household staff gathered on the front steps. His fiancée, Vanessa Ward, hurried down in an ivory dress and wrapped her arms around him. Vanessa came from a wealthy family with long-standing connections to Adrian’s organization. Their engagement was meant to unite two powerful houses. She was beautiful, polished, and always perfectly dressed. She was also rarely present unless photographers or important guests were nearby.
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“I was terrified,” Vanessa announced loudly. “I barely slept.”
Behind her stood Mason, wearing the same expression of solemn loyalty he had worn at the hospital.
