“If She Loses That Baby, None of You Walk Away,” the Mafia Boss Warned—Then He Turned on His Own Dynasty Clare Whitmore did not fall.

When Nathaniel arrived at the coffee shop ten minutes later, he found Clare staring blankly out the window, the manila envelope sitting on the table.

"What's wrong?" he asked immediately, sitting down.

Clare pushed the envelope toward him. "Victoria was here. They know about the baby, Nathaniel. Your father knows."

Nathaniel opened the envelope. Inside were copies of her clinic visits and a timeline of her movements over the last month. His vision blurred with rage.

"I’m going to kill him," Nathaniel breathed, standing up so fast his chair scraped violently against the floor.

"Nathaniel, stop!" Clare grabbed his hand. "Don't do something reckless. She said he'll destroy my career. If you go in there swinging, you give them exactly what they want."

"They threatened you!" he yelled, drawing stares from the other patrons. He forced his voice down. "They threatened our child. I am not letting this go."

He left the coffee shop and went straight to the Ashcroft Holdings headquarters.

He bypassed his father's secretary and kicked open the heavy oak doors of Douglas Ashcroft's office.

Douglas looked up from his desk, unbothered. "Knocking is still customary, Nathaniel."

"You put a private investigator on my pregnant girlfriend?" Nathaniel slammed the manila envelope onto the mahogany desk. "Are you insane?"

Douglas didn't even flinch. "I am protecting the family assets. You have created a complication. I simply gathered the necessary data to resolve it."

"She is not a complication. She is my family now."

"Your family is in this building!" Douglas roared, finally standing up. "That woman is a gold-digger looking for a payout! We will offer her five million dollars to terminate the pregnancy and disappear. If she refuses, I will bury her so deep she'll never find a job in this country again."