Chapter 1 - The Rescue
“Olivia?!”
The voice on the other side of the heavy steel door was muffled but undeniable. It wasn’t Derek. Derek’s voice was smooth, calculated, and currently driving away to establish his alibi. This voice was deep, authoritative, and laced with absolute panic.
“Help!” I screamed, but my throat was so raw from the −50°F air that it came out as a weak, raspy croak. My lips were cracked and bleeding, the blood freezing instantly against my chin.
“Olivia! Step back from the door!” the man yelled.
I didn’t have the strength to step anywhere. My legs simply gave out. I collapsed against the frosted metal shelving, wrapping my arms around my swollen belly in a desperate attempt to shield my unborn twins from the lethal cold. Another contraction ripped through me, blinding me with pain.
BANG.
The entire freezer vibrated. He was hitting the reinforced lock.
BANG.
Sparks flew from the locking mechanism on the outside. He was using something heavy—a fire axe or a sledgehammer. My vision began to tunnel, the edges of the room turning gray and fuzzy. I was freezing to death, and my body was using its last reserves of energy to try and deliver my babies.
CRASH!
The heavy steel door groaned, then violently swung open.
The rush of ambient air from the warehouse felt like a blast from a furnace, even though it couldn’t have been more than sixty degrees out there. I gasped, my lungs burning as they expanded.
A tall man in a tailored charcoal suit threw the fire axe aside and dropped to his knees beside me. He had piercing gray eyes, dark hair, and a jawline set like granite. I didn’t know him, but the way he looked at me—with a mixture of horror and fierce determination—told me I was safe.
"I've got you," he said, his voice remarkably gentle for a man who had just destroyed a commercial vault door. He immediately shrugged off his heavy wool overcoat and wrapped it tightly around my shivering shoulders. The fabric smelled of expensive cedar and faint cologne. It was the warmest thing I had ever felt.
"My... my babies," I stammered, my teeth chattering so violently I could barely speak. "He... he locked me in..."
"I know," the man said, scooping me into his arms as easily as if I weighed nothing. "I saw him leave. I saw him override the external lock. We don't have time to wait for an ambulance. My car is right outside."
As he carried me out of the freezing vault and through the empty pharmaceutical warehouse, another contraction hit me. I cried out, clutching the lapels of his suit.
"Breathe, Olivia," he commanded calmly, pushing through the warehouse exit doors into the damp night air. A sleek black SUV was idling on the curb, the back door already flung open. "You're going to be okay. I am Ethan Cole. And Derek is never going to hurt you again."
The name echoed in my fading consciousness. Ethan Cole. The tech billionaire Derek had obsessively complained about years ago. The man Derek had tried to ruin through corporate sabotage, only to be crushed when Ethan discovered the betrayal. Derek had always blamed Ethan for his career stalling.
Ethan gently placed me in the backseat, cranking the vehicle's heat to the maximum. He jumped into the driver's seat and slammed on the gas. The tires screeched against the asphalt.
"Hang on," Ethan said, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror. "St. Jude's Hospital is three miles away. I'm calling my private medical team to meet us at the emergency bay."
"He wants me dead," I whispered, the trauma finally breaking through my shock. Tears streamed down my face, thawing the frost on my eyelashes. "For the insurance. The gambling debts..."
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"He's going to get exactly what he deserves," Ethan’s voice was a low, dangerous rumble. "But right now, your only job is to survive. For them." He nodded toward my stomach.
I closed my eyes, holding onto Ethan's coat, and prayed to whatever was listening that we would make it in time.
