“No.”
“Can I see the baby?”
“Not without authorization.”
I nodded.
It hurt, but it was right.
Yara left without another word.
Royce watched her enter the elevator, then sat in the chair beside me.
“You want us to prepare for Salcedo?” he asked.
“No weapons near this hospital.”
“He may not give us a choice.”
“Then we create one.”
I handed him my titanium phone.
“Send the division heads home.
Lock down the docks.
No retaliation, no collections, no movement until I say otherwise.”
Royce studied me.
“That will look like weakness.”
“It is weakness.
I abandoned a woman I loved because I was afraid my enemies might use her.
Then I left her alone to carry the danger I created.”
He looked toward the intensive care corridor.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Find my attorney.
Tell him I need every legitimate asset separated from every criminal operation.
I want trusts prepared for Brin and the child, but nothing they are forced to accept.”
“And the rest?”
“The rest ends.”
Royce’s face tightened.
“Men will not walk away quietly.”
“Then give them severance, exits, and one warning.
Anyone who approaches Brin answers to me first and the authorities second.”
“You are involving the authorities?”
I looked at the sealed envelope.
“I am done pretending I can build safety out of fear.”
Near dawn, the hospital’s legal representative allowed the nurse to open Brin’s envelope in my presence.
She removed three items: an ultrasound photograph, a letter, and a document requesting a paternity test if Brin became incapacitated.
The nurse read only the portion addressed to me.
“Cormack, if you are hearing this, I may not be able to speak for myself.
The baby is yours.
I did not tell you because the last time I asked you to stay, you decided my future without me.
I would rather raise our child alone than let your guilt become another prison.
If I die, do not turn him into an heir to your empire.
Let him become someone who does not have to frighten people to feel safe.”
I closed my eyes.
There was no accusation in her words that I could defeat.
No enemy to remove.
No bribe to offer.
Only a truth I had spent nine months outrunning.
I signed the consent for the paternity test.
Two days later, Brin opened her eyes.
I was outside the intensive care room when the nurse came for me.
“She asked whether you were still here,” she said.
My heart lifted before I could stop it.
“Does she want to see me?”
“She said you may have five minutes.”
Brin looked smaller beneath the blankets, her face pale and her voice rough.
