Chapter 3 - The girlfriend who knew Brin’s name before I said it
I did not confront Yara immediately.
That would have been the old Cormack.
The man who solved uncertainty by forcing everyone else to react.
Instead, I watched.
She sat with her arms folded.
No longer touching her stomach.
No longer complaining about pain.
That was the first thing I noticed.
“You feeling better?” I asked.
Her eyes sharpened.
“Excuse me?”
“Your stomach.”
She looked down.
Then back at me.
“It comes and goes.”
Convenient.
I sat across from her.
“How do you know Brin?”
“I don’t.”
“You recognized her.”
“No, I recognized your face.”
“Try again.”
Yara smiled faintly.
“You really think intimidation works on me?”
“No.”
I leaned back.
“I think silence does.”
For ten seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then she made her mistake.
“Brin wasn’t supposed to be here.”
The room seemed to shrink.
I had never said her name to Yara.
She realized it immediately.
Royce moved closer.
I raised one finger.
Stay back.
“How do you know her name?”
Yara’s expression hardened.
“You’re making this bigger than it is.”
“That sentence has never made anything smaller.”
She stood.
“My father asked me to keep an eye on a situation.”
“What situation?”
“You.”
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because it made sense.
Aurelio Salcedo had never trusted me.
He respected me.
There was a difference.
“You were watching Brin for him?”
“No.”
“Then who was?”
Yara looked toward the maternity doors.
“My father thought someone might use her against you.”
“So he protected her?”
She said nothing.
That silence was answer enough.
Not protected.
Contained.
I stepped closer.
“What did he do?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
Then the hospital administrator returned.
This time with another woman.
Early forties.
Dark coat.
No visible badge.
She looked directly at me.
“Cormack Hale?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Grace Holloway.”
Brin’s sister.
The protector named in the trust.
She walked straight past Yara and stopped inches from me.
“You left my sister alone while she was pregnant.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You made sure she couldn’t tell you.”
That hit differently.
“What does that mean?”
Grace looked toward Yara.
Yara’s face changed.
Grace saw it.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“She’s here.”
“You know her?”
“No.”
Grace smiled coldly.
“But Brin does.”
My stomach tightened.
Grace explained that after I abandoned Brin, someone approached her outside the nightclub.
A woman.
Elegant.
Young.
Claiming to be part of my security team.
She told Brin that contacting me would place the child in danger.
Then she showed photographs.
My warehouse.
My men.
A bodyguard following her apartment route.
Brin believed I had ordered surveillance.
“She thought you were warning her,” Grace said.
“I never did.”
“I know that now.”
“How?”
“Because she started documenting everything.”
That sounded like Brin.
Quiet until she had proof.
Grace continued.
Three months into pregnancy, Brin noticed the same black SUV repeatedly near her apartment.
She photographed the plate.
The vehicle belonged to a shell company tied to Salcedo Holdings.
I looked at Yara.
She did not deny it.
Grace stepped closer.
“My sister didn’t hide the baby from you because she hated you.”
“Then why?”
“Because someone convinced her you had become the threat.”
I felt something in me break.
I had left Brin to protect her from my world.
And my absence had allowed someone else to define what my world meant.
Then Grace said:
“Brin eventually learned the surveillance wasn’t yours.”
“When?”
“Six weeks ago.”
“Why didn’t she contact me?”
“She tried.”
My chest tightened.
“What happened?”
Grace handed me a small sealed evidence pouch.
Inside was an old prepaid phone.
“Every number she used to reach you was intercepted.”
I stared at it.
“By whom?”
Grace looked at Yara.
“No idea yet.”
Then Royce whispered:
“Boss.”
He was staring toward the far end of the hallway.
Aurelio Salcedo had just entered the hospital.
Alone.
No guards.
No entourage.
For a man like Aurelio, that was never accidental.
He looked at me.
Then at Grace.
Then at the operating-room doors.
And said:
“Cormack, before you say anything stupid, you need to understand that child was never supposed to survive long enough to become leverage.”
May you like
The hallway went silent.
Cliffhanger: Aurelio’s words sounded like a confession—but the truth behind them suggested someone had been targeting Brin and her unborn child for reasons that had nothing to do with Cormack’s affection.
