Chapter 1 - The Money in Her Hand
“That’s enough for the bus.”
Jasper pressed folded bills into Hailey’s trembling hand and closed her fingers around them.
Then he stepped away.
Hailey stood on the sidewalk outside City General Hospital, five days after a C-section, wearing a loose blue floral hospital robe over the clothes she had arrived in.
Her newborn son slept against her chest.
Every breath pulled at the fresh incision beneath her robe.
Every step felt like something inside her was tearing.
The rear door of Jasper’s black luxury SUV stood open only a few feet away.
His mother, Gillian, sat comfortably inside in a cream jacket and gold jewelry.
His younger sister, Priscilla, stared at Hailey from the opposite seat while holding up a restaurant reservation on her phone.
Hailey looked down at the money.
Then at her husband.
“You’re leaving me here?”
Jasper adjusted the cuff of his navy suit.
“My mother’s birthday reservation is in twenty minutes.”
“I can barely stand.”
Hailey took one painful step toward the SUV, bracing her abdomen with one hand while keeping baby Toby secure against her chest.
Jasper planted himself in the doorway.
He did not touch her.
He did not need to.
His body made the message clear.
She was not getting inside.
From the back seat, Gillian tapped her watch.
“Our reservation matters too.”
Priscilla rolled her eyes and pulled Hailey’s diaper bag deeper into the SUV.
Hailey stared at it.
Toby’s diapers were inside.
His bottles.
His discharge papers.
The pain medication the hospital had prescribed.
“Give me the bag,” Hailey said.
Priscilla smiled.
“You’ll survive without designer accessories for one afternoon.”
“It contains his formula.”
Jasper grabbed the SUV door.
“Stop acting fragile.”
He swung it shut.
Hailey recoiled half a step, instinctively shielding Toby’s head.
Jasper walked around the vehicle, slid behind the wheel, and pulled away from the curb.
Through the tinted glass, Hailey saw Gillian and Priscilla laughing.
The SUV stopped at a red light fifty yards away.
Hailey kissed Toby’s forehead.
Then she crushed the bus money in her fist and pulled out her phone.
She tapped one contact she had not called in almost three years.
“Dad,” she said when the line connected. “I’m leaving Jasper.”
At the traffic light, Jasper glanced toward the hospital.
He saw the phone at her ear.
His irritation disappeared when a deep male voice answered through the speaker.
May you like
“Tell me exactly where you are.”
👉 Jasper thought Hailey was calling for a ride—but the man on the phone controlled the one thing Jasper could not afford to lose.
