Chapter 1
“That adoption was secret. Who sent you?”
Troy looked at his mother.
Opal shook her head immediately.
Too immediately.
I held Bennett’s crushed paper crown in one hand while my bodyguards formed a wall between the Drake family and my son.
The carousel behind us remained perfectly still.
So did I.
“Opal.”
She lifted her chin.
“No one sent us.”
Keira laughed from inside the collapsed gift boxes.
“We have ears.”
I turned toward her.
“Then your ears somehow heard something only five people knew.”
Her smile disappeared.
Troy stood slowly beside the wrapping cart, tissue paper hanging from one shoulder.
“Selene, calm down.”
I looked at him.
“You allowed your sister to put a box over my son’s head and tell him he was bought.”
“He needed to know he was adopted.”
“Not your decision.”
“He’s going to find out eventually.”
“Still not your decision.”
His jaw tightened.
Good.
I looked back at Opal.
Five people.
Me.
Bennett’s nanny, Grace.
Dr. Evelyn Shaw, who had been there the night he came into my life.
My late father.
And one other person.
Silas Caruso.
My father’s older cousin.
The man who had stood beside me when I took control of the family.
The man who had told me three years earlier that Bennett’s origin should remain private until I chose otherwise.
Opal’s phone vibrated.
Her hand moved toward her purse.
One guard took it first.
The screen showed one unread message.
No name.
Only initials.
S.C.
I looked at Opal.
Her face finally changed.
I opened the message.
DID SHE SAY IT OUT LOUD?
My pulse slowed.
Not Did Bennett find out?
Not Are the children okay?
Did she say it out loud?
Someone wanted me to publicly confirm the adoption.
I typed nothing.
Instead I looked at Troy.
“Your mother wasn’t sent here to expose a secret.”
His eyes narrowed.
“No.”
I held up the phone.
May you like
“She was sent here to make me confirm it in front of witnesses.”
And somewhere beyond the pavilion, Silas Caruso was waiting to use my answer.
