Grant Ellison was not just a random wealthy stranger stepping smoothly out of a sleek black SUV on a freezing February night.

He was the ruthless and highly calculated CEO of Ellison Medical, Vance Callahan’s fiercest and most hated competitor in the pharmaceutical industry.

He absolutely did not look like a man who had simply happened to be driving by that specific intersection at Columbus Circle.

He looked exactly like a man who belonged right there, stepping confidently between Maddie and the bitter, biting cold of the city street.

Grant stepped forward with an infuriatingly natural grace and smoothly placed a warm, protective hand on the small of Maddie’s shivering back.

He leaned down slightly, whispering something intimately into her ear that made her rigid, terrified shoulders relax almost instantly.

Vance stood completely frozen on the unforgiving asphalt as the loud, chaotic New York traffic swirled dangerously around his expensive Italian shoes.

He could only watch in mute, paralyzing horror as Grant easily and affectionately scooped the little boy up into his strong arms.

The boy giggled brightly, a sound that pierced the cold air, wrapping his small, mittened hands securely around Grant’s expensive wool collar.

Maddie simultaneously lifted the little girl into her arms, her striking storm-gray eyes pointedly refusing to look back at the Maybach or at Vance.

They moved together gracefully toward the waiting vehicle, looking exactly like a perfect, unbroken, and incredibly happy family unit.

Vance forced his frozen legs to move, taking a desperate, stumbling step forward and raising his shaking hand into the freezing air.

He wanted to scream her name until his lungs gave out, to violently stop the car from moving, and to demand the answers that were currently tearing his mind apart.

But the heavy, bulletproof doors of the luxury SUV slammed shut with a sickening thud, permanently sealing them away from his desperate grasp.

The dark, heavily tinted windows rolled up smoothly, completely hiding the only truth Vance had ever actually cared about in his entire miserable life.

The massive SUV merged seamlessly back into the aggressive city traffic, leaving Vance standing completely alone and shivering in the biting winter wind.

Lila rolled down the passenger window of the idling Maybach, her sharp voice dripping with extreme annoyance and embarrassment.

She sharply told him to get back inside the car immediately before the lurking paparazzi saw the great Vance Callahan acting like a deranged madman in the middle of the street.

Vance ignored her completely, the sound of her voice suddenly making him feel incredibly nauseous.

He turned his broad back on his million-dollar luxury car, his beautiful date, and his perfect life, choosing to walk down the dark street entirely alone.

He desperately needed to breathe, but the icy city air felt exactly like crushed glass tearing through his lungs with every single inhalation.

Those beautiful, terrified toddlers were his biological children.

He knew it with a sickening, undeniable, and bone-crushing certainty that left him gasping for air.

And he had brutally abandoned them in a sterile hospital room before they had even taken their very first breath.