Read the next chapter to discover how everything unfolds.

The cold autumn rain fell in sheets, instantly soaking Leah’s hospital gown and plastering her hair against her forehead. But she didn't feel the chill. Her entire body was a tightly coiled spring of adrenaline and protective fury as she clutched her newborn son tightly against her chest, shielding his face from the stinging downpour with her own body.

Doreen Carver stood under the black umbrella, looking remarkably pristine despite the storm. Her charcoal suit was immaculate, her silver hair unruffled, and her expression a masterpiece of cold, aristocratic condescension.

"End of the line, Leah," Doreen said calmly, her voice cutting effortlessly through the roar of the rain and the idling SUV engine. "You really are exhausting. Carrying a child requires a certain baseline of sanity and poise—qualities you clearly lack."

From behind Leah, the heavy steel exit doors banged open as Nathan and two hospital security guards burst into the alley, huffing and panting.

"Leah! Stop!" Nathan yelled, stepping forward with his hands raised in a pathetic gesture of appeasement. Water streamed down his face, mixing with what looked suspiciously like desperate sweat. "Just give me the baby. Mom is right. You're not well. We can fix this quietly."

Leah stared at her husband—the man she had shared a bed with, the man who had whispered vows of eternal devotion. The sheer depth of his cowardice and betrayal made her stomach churn.

"Don't you dare take another step toward us, Nathan," Leah warned, her voice trembling with a terrifying, razor-sharp intensity. "You signed away your own son for your mother's approval. You are nothing. You're just a ghost wearing my husband's face."

Nathan flinched as if he had been physically struck, stopping dead in his tracks.

Doreen sighed, rolling her eyes with theatrical annoyance. "Enough of this pathetic melodrama. Guards, take the child."

The two private security guards stepped forward, their massive frames blocking the mouth of the alley. They reached out with thick, calloused hands, moving toward Leah like mechanical executioners.

Leah backed up until her spine pressed hard against the freezing brick wall of the hospital. There was nowhere left to run. The alley was a dead end.

She looked down at her sleeping newborn son, tears mixing with the rain on her cheeks. She whispered a silent, desperate prayer, bracing herself to fight to the absolute death.

Just as the first guard’s fingers brushed against her shoulder, a deafening screech of tires echoed from the street beyond the alley.

SCREEECH!

A sleek, matte-black sports car came tearing around the corner at breakneck speed, jumping the curb and slamming violently to a halt right between Doreen’s luxury SUV and the security guards.

The passenger-side window rolled down instantly.