Chapter 3 - The Ultimatum"Answer it on speaker," Noah commanded instantly, his hand sliding smoothly to the sidearm concealed beneath his civilian jacket. "Agent Vance, trace this ping immediately."

I swiped the green button with a shaking thumb. Ryan’s face filled the screen. He wasn't in his sleek downtown Chicago apartment. He was sitting in the back of a private town car, looking slick, composed, and dangerously calm, his expensive suit pristine.

“Well, well, well,” Ryan smiled, a cold, predatory smirk that made my stomach churn. “It looks like you’ve been busy, Emily. Dragging an active-duty Army colonel into our domestic dispute? Really? You always did love melodrama.”

"Where is my other daughter, Ryan?" I screamed, lunging toward the phone before Noah gently pulled me back. "You monster! You lied about the twins! You stole my baby and gave her to another woman!"

Ryan’s smile vanished, replaced by a dark, venomous glare. “Watch your tone, Emily. You don’t own anything. That marriage certificate you thought we signed in Vegas four years ago? Filed under a fictitious parish seal. You were never my wife. You were a convenient incubator and a nice tax write-off while I finalized my real estate acquisitions.”

"Your game is over, Collins," Noah spoke up, stepping directly into the camera frame. His uniform-trained posture and icy authority made Ryan flinch visibly. "Federal agents have seized your offshore accounts, your shell-company ledgers, and the neonatal transfer logs from St. Jude’s. You’re looking at twenty years minimum for federal embezzlement and human trafficking."

For a split second, panic flickered across Ryan’s face. But then he laughed—a high, manic sound.

“Colonel Bennett, right? The hero of the hour. Do you really think I didn’t plan for this? Look out the window of your secure room, Colonel.”

Noah strode to the window and pulled back the blinds.

Down on the tarmac, parked near the private federal hangar, were two local police cruisers with their emergency lights flashing, alongside an armed tactical response unit. Megaphones crackled through the rain.

May you like

The heavy mahogany door of the dressing room seemed to close in on us, t...

The heavy silver fork slipped from my fingers, clattering sharply agains...

The heavy mahogany door of the Fairmont Copley suite clicked shut with a...

“The local police department received an anonymous tip that a disturbed, unstable military officer has abducted my wife and my infant child,” Ryan purred smoothly through the phone. “They have a warrant to take Lily into protective custody and place her with her legal father. You have two minutes to walk out and hand her over, Colonel. Or you’ll be court-martialed for kidnapping before the sun sets.”

The call disconnected with a sharp click.