A billionaire chooses to give up his empire to fight for his ailing daughter, but his fiancée finds a way to make the child pay the price... By the time he realizes it, everything in the hospital room seems to be in chaos....

By nightfall, the PICU floor had transformed into a fortress. Felix Kingsley did not do things by half-measures. He had utilized his immense wealth and power to hire an elite, heavily armed private security firm to lock down the entire pediatric wing.

Two large men in dark suits stood directly outside Lily’s room, their eyes scanning every doctor and nurse who approached. A third guard was stationed at the elevator banks, checking identification badges against a pre-approved list that Felix had personally curated. No one associated with the Kingsley Hospitality Group or Celeste Arden was permitted within a hundred yards of the floor.

Sarah sat beside the bed, watching the security detail through the glass window.

"You don't have to do all this, Felix," Sarah whispered, her voice hoarse. "The hospital has security."

"Hospital security is designed to stop unruly patients, Sarah, not corporate assassins," Felix replied, leaning against the windowsill. "Celeste is cornered, and cornered animals do incredibly stupid, desperate things. I am not taking a single chance with my daughter's life."

His phone buzzed incessantly in his pocket. It had been ringing for hours. Odette Kingsley had called no less than forty times, leaving increasingly hostile voicemails demanding that he return to the corporate headquarters to manage the fallout of the delayed merger.

Felix finally pulled the phone out, looked at the caller ID flashing his mother’s name, and calmly turned the device off entirely.

"She’s angry," Sarah noted, recognizing the look on his face.

"Let her be," Felix said dismissively. "My mother spent her entire life teaching me that power is the only thing that matters. She taught me to prioritize the empire over everything else. That’s why I didn't fight her when she forced you out seven years ago. I was a coward."

He walked over to the bed, looking down at Lily’s sleeping face.

"But looking at her," Felix murmured, his voice thick with emotion, "I realize that the empire is nothing but glass and concrete. It means absolutely nothing. This little girl is my legacy. And I will burn the Kingsley group to ashes before I let my mother or Celeste hurt her again."

Suddenly, the heavy doors of the PICU swung open down the hall. Felix tensed, his eyes narrowing as he saw a familiar, imposing figure striding confidently past the nurses' station, arguing aggressively with the security guards.