Chapter 1 - THE DISMISSAL CALL
Bleeding out on a hospital gurney while monitors screamed and nurses fought to stem the postpartum hemorrhage, Claire Ashford made one final desperate plea to her husband, the feared head of Chicago’s underworld. Graham Ashford didn’t come. With his former lover Vanessa Cole laughing lazily in the background, Graham cold-bloodedly offered a paltry settlement and full surrender of parental rights on one absolute condition: Claire must take their newborn son and disappear forever. Resigning herself to the bitter truth that her three-year arranged marriage was nothing more than an inconvenient transaction, Claire chose her maiden name for her child—Owen Mercer—and prepared to sign the divorce papers brought by Graham's attorney, Daniel Whitaker. But just as Daniel’s mask slipped when asked if Graham had even inquired about his flesh and blood, ominous heavy footsteps came to a sudden halt outside the maternity suite door.
