eaks. Sienna stood frozen in the middle of her small living room, the air turning thick, almost solid around her.

nating the dust motes dancing in the air. It was an ordinary morning, but the wor

sers, the other adjusting a cufflink with infuriating calm. For him, this was a transaction. An acquisi

the emotion he had shown only minutes before. "You can continue screaming about injustices and

fists, her nails bit

man who threatens

w, his expression on

ish. Stan

Three men and a woman, all in suits cut with military precision, stepped out of the vehicles. Each carried a fine le

ne. They weren't just lawyers;

y half. The group's leader, a gray-haired man with a shark-like gaze

I am Mr. Sterling, head of legal counsel for Volkov Industries.

ce came out more brittle than she intended. "You can't just

ized it: a preliminary court order. "We have DNA evidence obtained from a sample collected yesterday at the country club. The physical resem

lai, whose expression

t my permission?" she whispered, her voice

m me, " he replied coldly. "Now, listen to y

lti-page document. The paper was thick and e

safety standards for a child of Mila's standing, and your erratic employment history. We will argue that the environment the girl lives in is precarious and unsafe. Mr. Volkov, on the other hand, can offer her the best education in the world, twenty-four

had haunted her since she'd fled New York. She knew money could buy

she gasped. "I'm a good

ourtroom, Sienna, " Nikolai said, ta

ou the legal title of 'Resident Mother, ' and, for the sake of appearances, you will be presented as his fiancée for a period of no less than two years. You will move immediatel

linked,

ould you want t

legitimate heiress. You will live there so she doesn't suffer the trauma of being suddenly separated from you."He took another step closer. "But make no mistake, Sienna. In that house, my word is law. You will have no pa

hot tears of rage spilling down

na, " he said, his words landing like a sl

the hallway came the yawn of a little girl and

re so many men in s

wearing her bear pajamas, the legs a little short because she'd grown so q

the rude g

springing closed. Nikolai's gaze fell upon the girl, and for a fraction of a secon

such a cold display of power. If she chose Option A, these men would take her away in a black car, and Sienna could go years without se

Mila asked, her small, warm h

er daughter's. The smell of baby shampoo and home flood

s eyes, there was no trace of the man who had once made her feel like the center of the univers

id, extending the p

wered Mil

ute. Mommy has to sign some work

girl asked with a burst

, yet it held an undertone Sienna couldn't quite place. "A pl

he suspicion she'd inherited from her father

he pen with both of them. She glanced at the clauses: Total Security Cont

ery fiber of my being. You can take my freedom, you can force me to live in your m

t of expensive cologne and sheer po

is we 'had'. I want my heiress, and I want the world to beli

name on the last page. Every stroke of the

trucks will arrive in thirty minutes. You are permitted to bring two suitcases of personal clot

d out. "I can't pack up our e

ai said, glancing at his platinum watch. "

wyers and guards, the weight of the iron ultimatum crushing her soul. She had saved her daughter, but in doing so, she had walked