under her belly, the other still clutching her phone. She knew she should call emergency services immediately. She knew every second mattered.
But before she dialed, one name rose above the panic.
Her father.
Grant had spent years teaching her not to call him first. Edward Whitmore was too controlling, Grant said. Too suspicious. Too proud of his money. Too used to buying solutions. Claire had repeated those words so often they had begun to feel like her own.
Now, kneeling on the kitchen floor, she called him.
He answered on the second ring.
‘Claire?’
His voice was steady, warm, awake. He had never stopped answering quickly, even after months when she only called out of obligation.
‘Dad,’ she said, and the word came out like a child’s. ‘Check the family trust account now.’
There was a silence.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
‘Are you alone?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Where is Grant?’
‘He left. My water broke.’
The quiet on the line changed. Claire heard a chair scrape, footsteps, another phone being lifted.
‘Put me on speaker,’ he said. ‘Do not hang up.’
‘Dad, the delivery money is gone.’
‘I know.’
Those two words made her colder than the rain outside.
‘What do you mean, you know?’
‘I need you to breathe. I am calling Dr. Sato’s emergency line and the ambulance dispatcher from my office phone.’
‘He sent it to Leo.’
‘No, sweetheart. He didn’t.’
Claire pressed her back against the cabinet. ‘The memo said Leo.’
‘Memos are typed by whoever makes the transfer.’
The room seemed to tilt again.
Edward’s voice remained controlled, but beneath it Claire heard something old and dangerous. Her father had built a shipping company from one leased truck and a secondhand warehouse. People mistook his manners for softness until they crossed a line.
Grant had crossed one.
‘Where did it go?’ Claire whispered.
‘A holding company called Mayfair Supply.’
‘I don’t know that name.’
‘I do. Grant used it when he tried to borrow against your trust last month.’
The baby kicked. Claire shut her eyes.
‘He tried what?’
Edward paused. ‘I didn’t tell you because Maren begged me to wait until after the delivery. We were collecting proof. Grant told my attorney you had agreed to release part of the trust for an investment in Leo’s restaurant. When asked for your written consent, he produced a signature.’
Claire’s mouth went dry.
‘I never signed anything.’
‘I know.’
Another contraction rose. She dropped the phone, then grabbed it again with wet fingers. Her body curled around the pain. She tried to breathe the way the nurse had taught her, but the fear made everything jagged.
‘Dad, I can’t have him here. I can’t do this.’
‘You are not doing it alone. The ambulance is on its way. Dr. Sato is contacting Boston. And Claire, listen to me. The surgery deposit was paid yesterday.’
She stopped breathing.
‘What?’
‘Look in the front pocket of your hospital bag.’
The bag sat by the door where she had left it after checking the list for the fourth time that morning. Navy canvas. A white ribbon tied to the handle because Maren said hospitals were full of identical bags and she did not trust anyone in a hurry.
Claire crawled across the tile. The movement was awkward and painful.
