I Went To My Daughter’s House After A Vacation And Found My Expecting Daughter Alone, In Serious Condition In The Hospital, While My Son-In-Law Was On A Yacht In Hawaii And Not Answering Calls, So I Updated Access To The Shared Accounts And Made One Call To My Attorney, And Two Hours Later He Called ME In A Rush…

I’d negotiated with Fortune 500 CEOs and come out ahead every time. I had resources, connections, and most importantly, the cold, calculating intelligence that had made me formidable in boardrooms across Manhattan. If David Ashford thought he could abandon my daughter and grandchild without consequences, he was about to learn exactly how wrong he was.

I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I found the number I needed. Richard Blackwood. The most ruthless attorney in New York.

A man who had helped me navigate the treacherous waters of corporate law for over a decade. He answered on the second ring despite the late hour. “Amelia, welcome back.

How was Europe?”

“I need you to drop everything and meet me at Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital. Now.”

“What’s wrong?”

“My daughter is in intensive care and my son-in-law has vanished. I want everything—and I mean everything—about David Ashford’s financial life examined by morning.

Accounts, credit cards, business holdings, personal assets. All of it.”

A pause. Richard had worked with me long enough to recognize the tone in my voice.

The same one I’d used when hostile takeover attempts threatened my company. “Consider it done. Amelia… are you all right?”

I looked at my daughter’s unconscious form, at the monitors tracking my grandchild’s heartbeat, at the evidence of a man’s callous abandonment.

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