CHAPTER 1 — The Three Heartbeats
Three tiny heartbeats flickered across the ultrasound monitor.
Vivien Carter couldn't breathe.
The room suddenly felt too small.
"No..." she whispered, staring at the screen. "That... that has to be a mistake."
The ultrasound technician swallowed hard.
"I'm sorry, Miss Carter."
She slowly pointed toward the monitor.
"There are three embryos."
Three.
Not one.
Triplets.
Vivien's vision blurred.
Only minutes earlier she had walked into the women's clinic planning to end a pregnancy she never expected to keep.
She could barely afford groceries.
Her apartment's electricity had already been shut off twice.
Collection agencies called her before breakfast every morning.
She worked double shifts carrying plates of steak and wine for wealthy strangers who tipped less than the cost of dessert.
One baby would destroy her life.
Three...
Three would bury it forever.
Her fingers instinctively wrapped around her stomach.
"I'm sorry..."
She wasn't sure whether she was apologizing to herself...
...or to the tiny lives already growing inside her.
The technician quietly reached for a tissue.
Then—
BANG!
A gunshot exploded somewhere outside.
Both women jumped.
Another shot.
Then another.
People screamed.
Running footsteps echoed through the hallway.
The technician hurried toward the door.
"What on earth—"
The clinic door burst inward.
A tall man wearing an immaculate black suit entered without raising his voice.
He looked strangely calm.
Like someone who had expected the violence.
"Vivien Carter."
It wasn't a question.
Vivien instinctively backed against the examination table.
"Who are you?"
The technician stepped between them.
"You can't be in here!"
The stranger barely acknowledged her.
"My name is Vincent."
"I'm here on behalf of Mr. Adrian Blackwood."
The name struck Vivien like ice water.
Adrian.
The mysterious man from six weeks earlier.
The only man she'd been with since losing her mother.
The only man she'd trusted enough to lower every wall she'd spent years building.
She had spent countless nights wondering if he'd ever thought about her again.
Now armed men were storming a medical clinic because of him.
"I don't understand..."
Vincent glanced toward the hallway.
"We don't have time."
Another burst of gunfire echoed closer.
Glass shattered.
Someone screamed for help.
The technician looked terrified.
"What is happening?"
Vincent answered quietly.
"They found her."
Vivien frowned.
"Who found me?"
"Our enemies."
The room went silent.
"Our?"
Vincent's expression never changed.
"They believe you're carrying Adrian Blackwood's heirs."
Vivien stared.
"Heirs?"
The word sounded unreal.
"I don't even know what Adrian does."
Vincent finally looked directly into her eyes.
"No."
"You only knew the man."
"You never met the empire."
Before Vivien could answer...
Another explosion rocked the building.
Dust drifted from the ceiling.
Emergency alarms screamed throughout the clinic.
Vincent immediately pulled a handgun from beneath his jacket.
The technician gasped.
Vivien's heart nearly stopped.
"This isn't real..."
Vincent spoke into a hidden earpiece.
"Target confirmed."
"Move Team Alpha."
Then he looked back at Vivien.
"If you stay here another sixty seconds..."
"...you and your babies die."
Vivien wanted to believe he was lying.
Then bullets tore through the clinic wall.
Concrete exploded inches from where she stood.
The technician collapsed, screaming.
Vincent grabbed Vivien's wrist.
"Run!"
She yanked herself free.
"No!"
She wasn't about to trust an armed stranger.
Instead she bolted through the emergency exit.
The stairwell door slammed behind her.
Her heartbeat thundered louder than the alarms.
Six flights.
Five.
Four.
She nearly fell twice.
By the time she reached the parking lot she couldn't breathe.
Cold air hit her face.
Freedom.
Then black SUVs surrounded her from every direction.
Doors flew open.
Eight armed men emerged.
Vivien spun around—
—but another SUV blocked the only exit.
She was trapped.
One of the men carefully approached with open hands.
"We're taking you somewhere secure."
"I'm not going anywhere!"
She ran.
Two steps.
Strong arms caught her before she reached the sidewalk.
She screamed.
"I'm pregnant!"
"We know."
Those two words terrified her more than the guns.
She fought until tears streamed down her face.
Nothing mattered.
Not the money.
Not the debt.
Not Adrian.
Only the three tiny heartbeats inside her.
As the SUV sped away...
Vivien looked back through the rear window.
Smoke poured from the clinic.
Police cars flooded the street.
Ambulances arrived.
Someone had come to kill her.
She just didn't know why.
Or who wanted Adrian Blackwood's unborn children dead before they ever took their first breath.
Little did Vivien know...
...the man she had shared one unforgettable night with wasn't merely rich.
He ruled the deadliest criminal empire on the East Coast.
May you like
And every enemy he had ever made...
...had just declared war on his unborn family.
