I packed three small boxes.

I didn't take the diamond earrings Liam bought me in Monaco. I didn't take the fur coats. I only packed my mother’s silver hairbrush, four cotton sweaters, and my sketchbooks.

At ten in the morning, I stood by the kitchen island and dialed the courier company.

“This is Zayla,” I said into the receiver. “Bring the unmarked van to the basement service bay at two. Take the boxes to the private storage unit in Queens.”

“Understood, Mrs. Mitchell,” the dispatcher said. “Two o'clock sharp.”

I hung up. When I turned around, I froze.

Elena was standing at the edge of the hallway. She wore a soft cream knit dress that hugged her slight frame. Her hands rested gently over her flat stomach. She was smiling, but her eyes were cold as ice.

“Moving things out?” she asked softly.

“Just old winter clothes,” I said.

She tilted her head. “Liam says stress is bad for the baby. You moving around so much makes me nervous.”

“Then don't watch,” I said, and walked past her.

I didn't see where she went next. I didn't know she slipped out to the terrace, dialed two numbers, and spoke into a disposable phone. I didn't know she gave them my schedule, the route, and the address in Queens.

*Make it look like a robbery,* she told them. *And if Liam picks me, you bury her.*

At two o’clock, I took the freight elevator down to the loading dock.

The basement was dim. Concrete walls, fluorescent bulbs buzzing overhead, and the smell of exhaust. I stacked the two top boxes in my arms and walked toward the bay door.

A black utility van idled near the ramp.

“Courier service?” I called out.

Two men stepped out from behind a steel support pillar. They didn't wear uniforms. They wore heavy work jackets and dark ski masks.

Before I could drop the boxes, a thick arm wrapped around my neck.

My breath stopped. I kicked back, my heel catching a man's shin. He grunted in pain, but the second man grabbed my wrists. Metal clicked. Cold zip-ties dug into my skin, biting down to the bone.

A rag smelling of gasoline and dirt was shoved into my mouth. Then a dark canvas bag fell over my head.

They dragged me across the concrete. The van doors slammed shut.

The ride lasted forty minutes. I sat on the ribbed steel floor, every turn slamming my shoulder into the metal wall. The men didn't speak to me. But I heard one of them tap his phone screen and put it on speaker.

“She’s in the van,” the driver said.

Elena’s voice came through the speaker, crisp and clear. “Good. Drive to the garage on Tenth. I’m already on my way. Call Liam in ten minutes. Tell him to bring cash, or both of us die.”

“Understood, Silva.”

They pulled off my hood when we arrived.

It was an abandoned parking garage. Dust hung thick in the cold air. Puddles of dark motor oil reflected the gray daylight creeping through the cracked ramp.

They shoved me onto a rusted metal chair and looped a chain around my chest.

Across the wide concrete floor, Elena sat on a wooden crate. Her hair was messy. Her face was smudged with dirt. But her hands were barely tied with loose nylon rope. She looked at me and winked.

Ten minutes later, tires shrieked against the slick floor.

Two black SUVs roared up the ramp. The doors flew open. Marcus jumped out first, gun raised, followed by four Mitchell family guards.

Then Liam stepped out.

He didn't wear a tie. His dark coat was open. His face was pure stone, his eyes sweeping the room with cold authority.

“Mitchell,” the lead kidnapper yelled, stepping behind my chair and pressing a revolver to my temple. “Fifty million. Wire it now, or both of them bleed.”

Elena let out a sharp sob.

“Liam!” she cried. She doubled over, clutching her stomach with both hands. “Liam, please! The baby... God, my stomach hurts so bad! I'm cramping!”

Her body shook. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She sounded like she was dying.

Liam’s eyes snapped to her. His jaw clenched hard.

“Elena,” he said.

The kidnapper laughed. “You can take one right now as a down payment. Who walks out, boss? The wife, or the mother of your kid?”

I looked at Liam.

I didn't yell. I didn't beg. My shoulder throbbed where the chain bit into my skin. I just stared straight into his dark eyes, waiting.

Liam didn't look at my face. His gaze dropped to Elena, who was whimpering on the floor, curled in a tight ball.

“Marcus, cover me,” Liam ordered. His voice was steady. It was the same voice he used to close business deals.

He walked past me. He didn't even slow down.

He reached Elena, bent down, and sliced her ropes with a pocketknife. He pulled her up against his chest. She buried her face in his neck, sobbing loudly.

“Liam... the baby...” she whispered.

“I have you,” Liam said gently.

He turned his back on me.

“Liam,” I said. It was barely above a whisper, but in the hollow garage, it carried.

He stopped. He didn't turn around. He just looked over his shoulder, his profile sharp against the gray light.

“I have to save our child, Zayla,” he said. His voice was completely flat. “Hold on. I’ll send a strike team back for you.”

He walked toward his SUV, his arm wrapped tight around Elena's waist.

The SUV doors slammed. The engines roared, tires spinning on the wet concrete as they raced down the ramp.

The heavy steel garage door began to grind downward.

Slowly. Steadily.

I watched Liam’s car vanish into the street. The light slipped away inch by inch.

Then the door slammed shut against the floor with a loud bang, plunging the garage into total darkness.

Behind me, I heard the click of a gun being cocked.