Chapter 7

Magpie came to her feet in a single motion. "What do you mean, gone? She was in the garden."

"She was in the garden. I went inside for her water bottle, that's all. When I came back, she was gone. I've looked everywhere. I only found this…"

The nanny's eyes were streaming.

Ice shot up Magpie's body from the soles of her feet.

She forced herself calm and clicked the recorder on.

A distorted voice. "Magpie. You're in my way. Your kid is in my kid's way. Both of you, just die already."

Celine.

Thank God she had always kept a tracking chip in Wren's shoe. The signal came through almost immediately. An abandoned dock in Red Hook, on the outskirts.

Magpie grabbed her keys and drove like hell was chasing her.

As she drove, she gave instructions into the phone, voice steady.

"Pull everything on Celine Vance. Before she broke into entertainment, she was an escort at a high-end club. Dig up the photos. The fake academic credentials. The footage of her sleeping her way into roles. All of it. Release it."

"Pay whatever it takes to own every headline. I want her reputation destroyed in twenty-four hours."

When she hit the abandoned pier, she spotted the small wooden boat drifting out on the water from a long way off.

The hull was leaking. The boat was sinking slowly. The water had already reached the child's chest.

"Wren!" Magpie didn't think. She jumped.

She got her daughter into her arms. Wren was unconscious, skin cold, shaking violently.

Magpie's eyes burned red. Her hatred for Celine had just hit the ceiling.

She swam her daughter to the bank and drove straight to the hospital.

Once she was told Wren was out of danger, she finally peeled off her soaked clothes and let her chest unclench.

In the three hours between giving the order and getting Wren to the ER, Celine's reputation had been comprehensively shredded.

Her public accounts were under siege. Endorsements were getting pulled, one after another.

She was putting the phone away when running footsteps echoed down the hall.

Damon. Furious. Celine trailed behind him, eyes rimmed pink, the picture of innocence.

"Magpie. That smear campaign. That was you, wasn't it?"

"Are you really going to finish her off? I told you, you're my wife. No one gets to touch that title. Why do you have to use this kind of filthy tactic to destroy her?"

"She's pregnant. You understand pregnancy hormones are fragile, right?"

Magpie slowly raised her head and looked at this man. The one who had once loved her into ruin and who was now tearing her apart on behalf of another woman.

He hadn't even asked why she was at the hospital.

Her expression didn't change. She gave a small, quiet laugh.

She looked straight into his eyes, and spoke each word clearly.

"Damon. Did you know your daughter was abducted this afternoon and almost drowned?"

Every line in Damon's face froze. His pupils contracted.

Behind him, Celine's face went white in an instant. Something flickered in her eyes. Panic.

The pause stretched. Damon found his voice first.

"Wren… how is she?"

Magpie turned her face away. She didn't want to look at him anymore.

Seeing she wasn't going to speak, Damon's brow tightened.

"I'm worried too. I'll get to the bottom of it. But what does that have to do with Celine?"

Magpie laughed. Cold. Brief. It cut him off.

She didn't look at Damon anymore. She pulled out the small recorder.

Then she raised her hand and held it out to him.

"What's it got to do with her? Listen for yourself."

Damon's eyes went to the recorder.

Before he could move, Celine's face changed. Her voice broke into sobs, tears spilling like loose beads down her cheeks.

"It's not. That isn't my voice. It's fake. All of it is fake…"

"Does Mrs. Sterling hate me this much? She's already destroyed my name. Now she has to invent something like this? Accuse me of hurting Wren?"

Her free hand drifted to her stomach. Her body curled in on itself slightly.

"Damon loves Wren so much. I think of her as my own. Why would I hurt her? This is going to kill me. Me and the baby… we'd be better off just dying."

Whatever doubt had been building on Damon's face snapped shut.

He looked down at the nearly fainting woman in his arms. Then up at Magpie, whose expression hadn't moved.

"Magpie. You'd use our daughter's life as bait, just to smear Celine?"

Magpie looked at him. Steady. Studying him, like she was trying to see every part of this face she'd once loved.

Then she laughed, very softly. An empty sound.

"Damon. You are truly blind."

She didn't wait for his answer. She turned, pushed the door of the hospital room open, and went in.

The room was quiet. Wren was asleep, face pale but breathing steady.

Magpie crossed to the bed and sat down carefully. She brushed her fingertips across her daughter's soft hair.

Her chest went strangely calm. Whatever scene had just happened outside had drained the last of her feelings out of her.

She sat by the bed for a long time, until the sunset light came through the window.

Her phone lit up. Two messages.

The first was from Damon.

"Celine's in a fragile state. The pregnancy is at risk. The doctor said she can't take any more shocks."

"Whatever else, the child is a Sterling."

"I might have to give her some kind of formal standing to calm her down. Don't act out. It won't affect your position."

Every word dripped with which side he was on. He didn't ask whether the recording was real. In his mind, Celine and the baby in her belly mattered more than the truth did.

Magpie's expression didn't move.

Her fingers tapped out two words.

"Go ahead."