Chapter 16 - The HeartbeatThe doctor arrived by helicopter because Rowan made the storm irrelevant.
Dalia barely remembered the ride back to the house. She remembered Rowan carrying her across the foyer while staff stared in horror. She remembered Serena crying when she saw the blood on Dalia’s sleeve. She remembered Milo running beside Bobby, asking if the baby was alive.
She remembered wanting to answer.
She could not.
Shock made her body distant. Her fingers would not stop shaking. Her lips had turned blue. Every muscle ached from cold, struggle, and terror.
The doctor examined her in the east suite while Rowan waited outside the door, refusing to move.
This time, Dalia did not ask him to leave until the doctor touched her stomach.
Then she whispered, “Please.”
Rowan stepped out without argument.
The room became quiet except for rain against the windows.
The doctor placed the monitor.
Dalia held her breath.
For three seconds, there was only static.
Then a sound filled the room.
Fast.
Steady.
Impossible.
The baby’s heartbeat.
Dalia broke.
She covered her face and cried like she had not allowed herself to cry since the night she left New York. Not polite tears. Not quiet tears. The kind that tore through her chest and left her helpless.
The doctor squeezed her shoulder.
“She’s strong,” the woman said.
She.
Dalia laughed through tears.
Outside the door, something hit the wall.
A hand, maybe.
Rowan had heard.
When the doctor finished, she opened the door and told him mother and child were stable. Rowan closed his eyes for half a second.
Then the don returned.
“Find Celia,” he told Nico.
“We’re searching the woods.”
“Alive.”
Nico hesitated.
Rowan’s eyes hardened. “Alive. I want her to answer in daylight.”
Massimo stood near the fireplace, soaked and furious. “Daniel escaped through the east drive. Two Rossi men dead, one captured. Celia’s driver is missing.”
Rowan looked at Serena. “Where would Daniel go?”
Serena sat beside Milo, holding his hand while he pretended not to allow it.
“He has a safe house near the coast,” she said. “But he won’t run.”
“Why?”
“Because he thinks tonight proves he can still win.”
Dalia spoke from the bed.
“No,” she said.
Everyone turned.
Her voice was hoarse, but steady. “He thinks tonight proves you will choose revenge.”
Rowan looked at her.
Dalia pushed herself higher against the pillows. “That’s what he wants. A war. Blood in the house. Your family divided. Police, press, board panic. He’ll use the marriage certificate, the trust, the attack, everything.”
Massimo frowned. “So what do you suggest? We send him flowers?”
Dalia looked at him. “No. You send him a stage.”
Rowan’s gaze sharpened.
Dalia swallowed. “Daniel performs. He always has. He needs to be seen as the wronged heir, the abandoned son, the man forced into darkness. So give him an audience.”
Serena whispered, “The engagement announcement.”
Everyone looked at her.
“It was scheduled for tomorrow evening,” she said. “Press, board members, family allies. Daniel will expect us to cancel.”
Rowan understood immediately.
“We don’t.”
Massimo smiled slowly. “We hold the event.”
Serena’s face paled. “And expose him publicly.”
“And Celia,” Dalia said.
The room went silent.
Rowan looked at her for a long moment.
“You almost died an hour ago.”
“Yes.”
“You should rest.”
“I will rest when men stop discussing my child like an asset.”
Milo smiled faintly.
Bobby, bandaged but stubborn, thumped his tail once from the floor.
Rowan walked to Dalia’s bedside.
“Daniel will come for you again.”
“I know.”
“I can move you somewhere safer.”
“No.”
“Dalia—”
“No,” she said, stronger now. “I ran from him once. He turned my running into a leash. I won’t hand him another hiding place to haunt.”
Rowan’s eyes searched hers.
“You understand what tomorrow becomes?”
“A trap.”
“A trial.”
“A war.”
Dalia touched her stomach.
“A beginning.”
For the first time, Rowan smiled.
It was brief.
Dangerous.
Beautiful in a way that made Dalia look away first.
Then Nico entered, carrying something wrapped in cloth.
“We found this near the cistern.”
He unwrapped it.
Celia’s scarf.
Bloodstained.
Attached to it with a pin was a note.
Rowan took it.
His face darkened as he read.
Dalia’s body went cold. “What does it say?”
Rowan handed it to her.
The handwriting was Daniel’s.
Tomorrow, choose the child or the throne.
Dalia stared at the words.
Then she looked at Rowan.
He did not hesitate.
“The child,” he said.
Massimo swore.
Serena began to cry again.
Dalia closed her fist around the note.
May you like
Because she believed him.
And that scared her almost as much as the cistern had.
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