of the only problem that mattered.
‘Why did he stop with you?’ he asked.
Mara could have answered politely. She could have said the baby was tired. She could have pretended nothing was wrong.
Instead she looked at Leo’s red face and said, ‘Because someone picked him up before asking who was allowed to.’
Silence followed.
A dangerous silence.
Adrian looked at her, and for a moment Mara was certain she had lost the job, the agency, and any chance of paying the hospital.
Then his anger faded into something more frightening.
Understanding.
He held Leo out.
‘Take him.’
Mara did.
The change was immediate. Leo’s crying thinned, broke, and faded. He clutched Mara’s shirt with both hands and hid his face against her.
Adrian stared.
The hallway behind him remained quiet, but Mara felt watched.
A woman appeared near the nursery entrance. She was wrapped in a pale blue silk robe, her dark hair falling perfectly over one shoulder. She had the kind of beauty that looked practiced, not effortless. Her lips curved in a smile that did not reach her eyes.
‘Adrian,’ she said. ‘Why is the cleaner holding Leo?’
Leo’s body tightened.
It was small. Almost invisible.
But Mara felt it.
Adrian turned slowly. ‘Celeste. Did you know he was in the pantry?’
The woman’s smile held for half a second too long.
‘The pantry? Why would he be in the pantry?’
Mara did not speak. She looked down at Leo. His eyelashes were wet against his cheeks.
Celeste stepped into the room, bringing the scent of perfume and cold flowers with her. ‘Nurse Patton left last night. She said he was impossible. I checked the nursery afterward. He must have been moved by one of the staff.’
‘Which staff?’ Adrian asked.
Celeste’s eyes flicked toward Mara. ‘Apparently the staff come and go as they please now.’
Mara felt the old instinct to lower her gaze. To survive by shrinking.
Leo’s fingers held her collar tight.
She did not lower her gaze.
Adrian noticed.
‘I want everyone who entered this penthouse last night listed by noon,’ he said.
Celeste’s expression sharpened. ‘You have a board call in an hour.’
‘Cancel it.’
‘Adrian, you cannot cancel every meeting because the child cries.’
The child.
Not Leo.
Adrian’s face closed. ‘Leave us.’
Celeste looked as if she might argue, then glanced at Mara and walked away without another word.
An hour later, Mara sat in Adrian Bellmont’s private office with Leo asleep in a bassinet beside her chair. The office overlooked the city, but the view felt distant behind the rain. On Adrian’s desk were neat stacks of papers, three phones, and a single framed photograph turned slightly away.
Mara recognized the woman in yellow from the nursery picture.
Adrian followed her gaze.
‘My wife,’ he said. ‘Elise.’
Mara nodded, unsure what to say.
‘She died seven months ago.’ His voice did not break, but it thinned. ‘Complications after surgery. Leo was eight weeks old.’
The office seemed to shrink around the sleeping baby.
‘I am sorry,’ Mara said.
He gave a short nod, the kind people give when they cannot accept comfort but do not want to reject it.
Then he leaned back and looked at her with the focus of a man used to making decisions quickly.
