Panic flickered through Victor and Vivian at the same instant. Toby’s eyes darted once, and he dropped his head. Daisy was younger, and the confusion on her face gave way fast to delight. She squeezed Vivian’s arm and beamed. “Really? Ms. Lowe is my real mommy? That’s the best thing ever! I want Ms. Lowe for my mommy!” She made a point of looking at Noelle and Wren while she said it, and the challenge in her eyes was deliberate. It was not the first time Vivian had heard Daisy say something like that. Every other time it had pleased her in private. This time something in her sank. Noelle took in every reaction in the room, and there was nothing left to misunderstand. She had never once believed her husband would betray her. Hearing that the other party was Vivian, something in her simply accepted it. She had no idea where Wren picked it up, but what Wren said was almost certainly true. Daisy might well be Victor and Vivian’s child. That single thought answered every question she had swallowed over the years. Vivian had no husband of her own and doted on Daisy like a mother. Victor’s company signed her as its face, and the two of them ate alone together constantly. He said they were friends who happened to work together. He said she had too much time on her hands and saw things that were not there. And the truth? They’ve been together for years. They had a baby. And he handed me his mistress’s daughter to raise as my own. One more suspicion crossed her mind, so ugly she refused to follow it any further. She only kept her eyes locked on Victor. Her voice shook when she asked him. “Is that true? What Wren just said?” Victor buried his own shock and answered with open impatience. “She’s four. She says whatever pops into her head, and you believe her? Noelle, where’s your head at?” He had already shouted at Wren, and now he was shouting at the mommy she had found that morning. Wren had heard enough. She pushed her small chest out and planted herself in front of Noelle, guarding her the same way she had just been guarded. “Don’t you yell at my mommy!” Then she added something else. “Everything I said is true. You don’t believe me, go and test it!” Wren had not come here to join this family. She had come to take it apart. Her words landed on every adult in the room, and for Wade, who had been soaking up every second of it, something finally clicked. Of course. One paternity test ends this whole argument. Ms. Wren Rhodes is sharper than every adult in this room. He was still admiring her when Wren added, “A blood charm’ll tell you.” Wade almost lost his footing. The awe in his eyes softened into something helpless and fond. She’s four. Of course, that’s where her head goes. “Ms. Wren Rhodes, blood doesn’t work that way outside of storybooks. When grown-ups want to know who belongs to who, they swab your cheek and send it off to a lab.” He said it gently, and then his stomach dropped. He looked up to find Victor staring holes through him, broke into a sweat, and clapped a hand over his mouth as though he could take it back. Victor could have strangled him for handing her the idea. He turned and saw that Noelle was clearly weighing it, and he opened his mouth to talk her down. His public image had always been spotless, and Vivian had spent years selling herself as a single, educated star. If this got out it would bury both careers. He was still choosing his words when Wren spoke up again. “Mine’s not out of a storybook.” She pulled a stiff little card out of nowhere, its face inked edge to edge with looping sigil work. Every bit of the baby roundness stayed in her cheeks, and none of it reached her voice. “You put one drop of blood from each person on it. If they’re kin, the ink drinks it up and the whole card burns. That’s it.” Griff had drawn that bloodline charm for her himself, and it had never once been wrong. She meant every word of it. Victor laughed, short and flat, and turned to Noelle. “You’re taking a four-year-old’s fairy tale seriously? And a piece of card stock?” He wanted her doubt gone. What he did not see was how clear her head had become. “There’s one way to find out.” Then she went on. “And if the card does nothing, a lab will. One swab and we’ll know whose she is.” Saying it out loud meant she intended to see the thing through to the end. Irritation crossed Victor’s face, and her refusal to let it go clearly rankled him. He had more to say when Vivian cut in, her voice as soft as ever. “Victor, we’re past hiding it.” She looked straight at Noelle as she spoke. The gentleness never left her face, though something proud and challenging sat just under it. “I never liked hearing Daisy call her Mom anyway. This works out.” Everything in Victor’s expression said he disagreed. “What about your career? If this gets out, your whole image…” “I don’t care about that.” Vivian kept going. “So the career goes. I’ve still got you and Daisy.” The look on his face turned to pure sympathy. The two of them stood there aching over each other as though nobody else existed. Noelle watched it happen, and her eyes burned. The whole scene was absurd, and it turned her stomach. Victor chose that moment to round on her, his voice cold and full of blame. “Noelle, you pushed this all the way here. Happy now?” She almost laughed. “I pushed it?” He cheated. He kept her. He raised a daughter with her. And I’m the one who dragged it out? Victor had no patience left for any of it. “None of this had to get ugly. Vivian never tried to take a thing from you. Look the other way and it goes away.” He glanced at Wren as he said it, and whatever he felt for the daughter who had dragged the truth into the open was nothing but dislike. “This is Vivian’s name and mine on the line. I don’t want either of you breathing a word of it outside this house. Agree to that and we can go on like before…” The last part was aimed at Noelle. She cut him off through her teeth before he finished. “Nothing is going on like before! Victor, what makes you think I could stand next to you after something this filthy? You chose to cheat, so I’m choosing divorce.” The word stopped him for a beat. Then he laughed, and it came out cold. “Divorce? You want a divorce, and then what? You raise her on your own? You keep living like this on what? Don’t say things you don’t mean, Noelle.” She started to argue and he talked over her. “And don’t start on the company being half yours and splitting everything down the middle. I won’t sign it, and you won’t see a dollar.” He said it without a shred of warmth. Whatever act he had kept up all these years, he was finished with it. It landed on her all at once. He had been guarding against this day for a long time. He means to send me out with nothing! Noelle felt like she was meeting Victor for the first time, and the sheer gall of it left her shaking. He had loved her once, and enough of that remained that he sighed and let his voice ease. “Look, if you behave yourself, I’m not going to leave you and the kid with nothing. Take the condo across town. You two move in there and I’ll come by when I’ve got time…” Noelle crossed the space between them before he finished and slapped him across the face. Divorce me and keep me on the side like her? What does he think Wren and I are? She shook from head to foot, her eyes red, and her voice came out raw. “You make me sick, Victor. We’re done, and Wren doesn’t have a father like you.” She took Wren’s hand and turned for the door. The slap had left him furious, and he shouted at her back. “Walk out that door, Noelle, and you and that bastard are on your own! Don’t come to me for a dollar!” She never looked back or wasted another glance on him. Her steps only slowed when she passed Toby. She had brought him home from the orphanage herself. The divorce was settled in her mind, but she still wanted to hear what he wanted. “Toby, are you coming with me?” He had not made a sound since the shouting started. The question caught him, his eyes slid away, and it took him a long moment to mumble an answer. “Mom, quit making a scene.” Adopted or not, his last name was Rhodes. Between a mother about to lose everything and a father who would keep it, the choice made itself. He liked her well enough. He did not want to leave this house. Disappointment moved through Noelle, and underneath it sat something that had half expected this. She did not try to talk him around. She took Wren’s hand and walked straight out. Victor was still shouting behind them. Wren listened for a moment, squeezed her mommy’s fingers, and patted her own chest. “Don’t be scared, Mommy. I can make money. I’ll take care of you.” I’m really good at things. Everything heavy in Noelle’s face broke apart, and she laughed through the tears. She bent down, pinched Wren’s cheek, and softened her voice. “Don’t you worry about a thing. Mommy’s never letting you go without.” Without the Rhodes name, without Victor, she would still give Wren everything she should have had from the start. She would give her more than that. With that settled, she pulled in a breath, took out her phone, and dialed a number she had not called in years. The line rang. Her heart hammered until the call finally connected. Nobody spoke on the other end, but she could hear breathing, heavy and clear. She had not cried while she was slapping him. She cried now. Her voice cracked, and what came out was barely more than a whisper. “Julian…”