My billionaire boyfriend’s mother walked into my Vermont farmhouse, placed a blank check on my kitchen table, and said, “Name your price. Then disappear before Adrian learns that child is his.”

new circumstances,” she said.

Something inside me settled.

I wasn’t going to allow this woman to intimidate me out of my daughter’s life.

I lifted Poppy onto my hip.

Then reached beneath the kitchen sink with my free hand.

I took out the blue folder.

The moment Celeste saw it, her expression tightened.

“What is that?”

“Something you apparently assumed I’d thrown away.”

I opened it.

Inside were the certified-mail receipt, delivery confirmation, a photocopy of the letter, and a photograph Adrian had given me before returning to New York.