Chapter 3: What the Lawyer Knew
Giancarlo guided Rosalie through the front door without another word to Caleb or Millicent.
The night air hit her face and she stopped on the top step, breathing slowly, one hand still on her belly.
"Keep moving," Giancarlo said quietly.
"The car is right there."
One of the bodyguards opened the rear door of a black sedan.
Rosalie lowered herself in.
Giancarlo sat beside her.
The door closed.
Through the window, she could see Caleb standing in the lit doorway.
He didn't come after her.
He just watched the car pull away.
Rosalie turned forward.
"Tell me what that document says."
Giancarlo was quiet for a moment.
Then he reached into his jacket again and unfolded it across his knee so she could see.
It was a legal agreement.
Her name was on it.
So was the baby's — listed not by name but by the phrase *unborn child of Rosalie Vane.* Caleb's signature was at the bottom.
So was Millicent's.
The date was six weeks ago.
"What is this?" Rosalie said.
"A custody pre-assignment.
Caleb signed over primary legal guardianship of your child to Millicent before the baby is even born.
He used a private family attorney — not yours, not a neutral party.
His."
Rosalie's hand pressed flat against her belly.
"He can't do that."
"He tried to." Giancarlo folded the document carefully.
"The attorney who drafted it contacted my office two days ago.
He said he couldn't file it.
Said it crossed a line he wasn't willing to cross.
He sent me a copy instead."
"Why your office?"
Giancarlo looked at her directly for the first time since the car started moving.
"Because I'm your father, Rosalie."
The word landed like something physical.
Rosalie didn't speak.
Outside, the streetlights moved past in slow yellow intervals.
"My father died when I was four," she said finally.
"The man your mother told you about died.
I didn't." He kept his voice even, careful.
"Your mother and I separated before you were born.
She remarried.
She didn't want contact.
I respected that for a long time.
Too long."
"Then why now?"
"Because your mother called me three months ago.
She was ill.
She told me what Caleb's family was doing.
She asked me to watch over you." He paused.
"She passed away six weeks ago."
Rosalie looked down at her hands.
"I didn't know she was sick."
"She didn't want you to worry.
She said that was very much like her."
It was.
It was exactly like her.
Rosalie pressed her lips together hard.
She would not fall apart in this car.
Not yet.
Not until she understood everything.
"The document," she said.
"Can they use it?"
"Not as it stands.
But Caleb's family has money and they have connections.
If they find a different attorney willing to file a motion — even a bad one — it could delay your rights long enough to cause real harm.
Especially if you're in the hospital and they're already present."
"They were going to be in the delivery room."
"I know."
"Caleb told the hospital they were my emergency contacts.
He removed my friend Dara from the list without telling me."
Giancarlo's jaw tightened slightly.
"When did you find that out?"
"Two days ago.
I thought it was a mistake.
I was going to fix it tomorrow." She almost laughed.
"I was going to ask him nicely to fix it."
Giancarlo said nothing.
He didn't need to.
Rosalie looked out the window again.
They were on the highway now, the city falling away behind them.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere safe.
A private medical facility.
The best obstetric team in the state is on call there tonight." He glanced at her.
"How are you feeling?
Physically."
"Tired.
My back has been hurting since this afternoon."
Giancarlo leaned forward and spoke to the driver in a low voice.
The car accelerated slightly.
"We're not stopping," he said.
Rosalie nodded.
She looked down at the folded document still resting on his knee.
"Caleb knew you were coming tonight, didn't he?
That's why Millicent panicked.
That's why she grabbed the bag."
Giancarlo picked up the document and returned it to his jacket.
"Caleb didn't know who I was.
But Millicent did.
She recognized my name from the attorney's paperwork." He paused.
"She knew the moment I walked through that door that everything she'd planned was already finished."
Rosalie thought about Millicent's face when Giancarlo had said *you never owned her child.* The way the color had simply left it.
"She's not going to stop," Rosalie said.
"No," Giancarlo agreed.
"She's not."
The car moved through the dark.
Rosalie kept her hand on her belly and said nothing more.
But somewhere beneath the exhaustion and the shock, something else was forming.
May you like
Small and hard and quiet.
She was done being afraid of them.
