The conference room on the forty-second floor of the Sterling & Vance law firm was suffocatingly quiet. Rain lashed against the floor-to-ceiling windows, a relentless drumming that mirrored the pounding in Clara Vance’s chest. She sat straight-backed in a leather ergonomic chair, her hands folded ne

The sterile, blinding lights of the delivery room blurred at the edges of Clara’s vision as another agonizing contraction ripped through her body. She squeezed her eyes shut, bearing down as a guttural sound tore from her throat.

"That's it, Clara, you're doing incredible," Elias’s voice cut throu