Alexander hung back by the door, checking out the fancy medical equipment and the quality of care, along with Liam’s protective stance.

This girl is connected to someone with power, Alexander thought. But that’s Emma’s concern, not mine.

"She looks so calm," Emma whispered. She reached out but didn’t quite touch Ayla’s hand. "Is she going to be okay?"

"The doctors say she is," Liam replied carefully. "She had a stress-related episode, so they’re keeping her sedated to help her rest."

"Do they know what caused it?" Emma asked.

"Not yet," Liam said. "That’s not something I can discuss."

Emma bit her lip. "I just hope she knows she’s got a friend. We just met, but she seemed really sweet."

Liam’s expression softened a bit as he noticed Emma’s genuine concern. "She’ll be glad to know you stopped by."

"Can I leave her a note?" Emma asked.

"Absolutely," Liam said, pointing to a small table.

Emma took out her notebook and wrote carefully:

---

Ayla! I came by to visit, but you were asleep. You look like a fairytale princess—no joke! I hope you feel better soon! Your boyfriend is super protective, which is relationship goals. Can’t wait for that coffee we talked about. Get well soon!

Your friend,

Emma ♡

P.S. - I’ll bring you notes from class. You didn’t miss much.

---

She put the note where Ayla would see it.

"Thanks for letting us visit," Emma told Liam. "Make sure you take care of her, okay?"

"I will," Liam promised. "Always."

Emma and Alexander headed out, and Emma glanced back one more time.

As soon as they left, Liam pulled out his phone and texted Zayden: "Ayla’s friend Emma came to visit with her dad. They seemed normal. The dad was polite and kept his distance. Emma left a sweet note. Just giving you an update on visitors."

Zayden texted back right away: "Emma is Alexander’s daughter. The man with her is Alexander."

Liam paused for a moment to take it in.

Another message popped up: "Did he recognize Ayla? See anything unusual?"

Liam snapped back to reality and replied, "No, he was totally normal. Looks like he didn’t know her."

Zayden replied, "Good. Take care of her."

*****

In the elevator, Emma leaned against the wall, totally worn out.

"Today has been such a wild ride," she said. "We had a great dinner, but I can’t stop worrying about Ayla."

"She’ll be okay," Alexander replied.

But his thoughts were elsewhere.

He was preoccupied with security guards, pricey care, and a boyfriend who seemed to have some sort of training.

Who is Ayla Alston, anyway?

He needed to figure that out.

Not because he thought it linked to his past, he knew that wasn’t possible, but because anyone Emma got close to needed a background check.

For her safety.

At least that’s what he told himself.

*****

Outside the hospital, Zayn sat in his car, watching Emma and Alexander drive off.

His phone buzzed with a text from Zayden, ’Liam said the visit was pretty normal. Alexander didn’t seem to recognize Ayla. We might actually have more time than we thought.’

Zayn texted back, ’What about Emma? Heard anything from Aylin?’

’Still looking into it. I’ll update you as soon as I find something.’

Zayn put his phone away and turned on the engine.

Emma Kane had just become the most complicated woman he’d ever been interested in.

And he had a feeling things were about to get even more complicated.

*****

The office was lit up by the blue light from a bunch of monitors, with the only other glow coming from a desk lamp in Zayden’s corner.

Aylin’s fingers were flying across the keyboard, her eyes darting through the data quicker than most people could read. Zayden stood behind her chair, resting a hand on the backrest, keeping an eye on the info spilling across the screens.

"I think I’ve found something," Aylin said under her breath as she pulled up a heavily encrypted file. "Emma Kane’s birth certificate. Her mom is listed as Sarah Kane, who died during childbirth. But..."

"But what?" Zayden asked.

"But there’s no death certificate for Sarah Kane. No hospital records, no obituary, nothing," Aylin replied, her fingers still moving over another keyboard. "It looks like the name is totally made up."

"So there is a possibility Emma isn’t his biological kid," Zayden figured.

"Definitely not." Aylin dove into adoption records, looking more serious. "Let me check further. If he adopted her, there’s got to be some paperwork somewhere, even if it’s buried."

She worked quietly for a few minutes, hacking through firewalls and digging up archived databases that were supposedly erased years ago.

"Got it," she suddenly said, pointing at a screen. "Havenbrook Home Orphanage. It shut down eighteen years ago, but they digitized their records before they closed."

Zayden leaned in closer. "What does it say?"

"It says a baby girl, about two months old, was abandoned at a fire station. No parents identified. Taken to Havenbrook Home." Aylin scrolled through the document. "Adopted three weeks later by Alexander Kane. It was a single-parent adoption, which was pretty rare at the time, but he had all the right paperwork and credentials."

"He had this all planned out," Zayden said quietly. "Taking in a baby was part of his cover-up."

"The perfect cover-up," Aylin agreed, pulling up more files. "I’m tracking Emma’s whole history now, elementary school, middle school, high school, university. Everything looks normal. She has good grades, a few close friends, and regular activities. She has no idea her whole life is built on a lie."

She pulled up Emma’s social media and scrolled through years of posts. "Check this out. She writes about her ’mom who died when she was born’ as if it’s the truth. She doesn’t even know she’s adopted."

Zayden’s expression turned serious. "Twenty-three years of lies. Every single day."

"And she loves him," Aylin said softly, noticing Emma’s posts about her dad over the years. "She really loves him. When she finds out—"

"It’s going to crush her," Zayden finished.

Just then, the office door swung open.