Two hours after my ex-husband said “I do,” he walked into my hospital room with his bride still wearing her wedding dress. I had just given birth. He wasn’t there to meet our daughter. He was there to make me sign an NDA. But ten minutes later, his face went pale, his new bride looked terrified, and neither of them was prepared for what came next...

Back in the quiet warmth of the hospital suite, the room smelled of fresh lavender and baby powder. Simone had arranged for private security outside my door, ensuring no reporters or Vale henchmen could disturb us.

I held my daughter against my chest, watching her tiny heart beat steadily against her blanket.

"Have you chosen a name?" Simone asked softly, setting a box of organic pastries on the nightstand.

"Clara," I said, smiling for the first time in six months. "Clara Evelyn Vance."

"Vance?" Simone raised an eyebrow. "You're keeping your maiden name for her?"

"I never officially changed my last name to Vale on my legal trust papers," I revealed softly. "Dominic was so obsessed with his own name that he never bothered to check my birth certificate. He thought I took his name out of devotion. I kept my father's name out of survival."

Simone chuckled, shaking her head in admiration.

"You really are a risk analyst to your core, aren't you?"

"When you build a house with a man who loves storms," I said, looking out the window at the city lights, "you make sure the foundation belongs entirely to you."

My phone chimed on the table. It was a text message from an unknown number.

I opened it. It was a photo of Dominic standing outside the St. Regis Hotel, surrounded by reporters, looking pale and utterly defeated.

Beneath the photo was a text from Celeste:

He's coming back to the hospital. He knows about the voting shares.