Chapter 9

Devin walked into the hospital room and scooped Kenzie up from the window seat. He turned and shoved her into the arms of the startled head nurse, who had just walked in to check her vitals.

"Watch her," Devin ordered, his voice like gravel. "If she gets a single scratch, I will shut this hospital down and sell it for scrap."

The nurse went white, clutching the baby to her chest. "Yes, sir! Of course, sir!"

Devin turned and headed for the door. His long legs ate up the distance, his body coiled with explosive energy.

Kenzie struggled in the nurse's arms. This wasn't part of the plan. Devin was going in blind. He didn't know where the drugs were. He didn't know where the cameras were. He would walk into Desiree's trap just like Sterling.

"You idiot!" Kenzie screamed in her mind, thrashing her tiny limbs. "You can't just kick the door down! She'll have the cameras hidden! If you don't find the evidence, she can claim Sterling attacked her! You need me!"

Devin's stride faltered. He was at the elevator bank, his finger hovering over the call button. He heard the baby's thoughts loud and clear. She was right. Without the physical evidence of the cameras and the drugs, it would just be his word against hers. And a rich man accusing a poor doctor of entrapment wouldn't play well in the press.

But taking a sick infant on a tactical raid was insane.

"Bring me!" Kenzie insisted, her mental voice frantic. "I can pinpoint the cameras! I can read her mind! I'm your radar! You're flying blind without me!"

Devin's jaw clenched. He looked back at the squirming baby in the nurse's arms. He weighed the risk to the child against the risk to his family's empire. The empire won.

He strode back and snatched Kenzie from the nurse. "Shut up," he muttered, holding her close. "Arthur," Devin barked, turning to his bodyguard. "You follow one block behind in the SUV. If anything happens to me, your only priority is the child. You get her out. Understood?" Arthur nodded grimly. Devin shifted his grip, using his broad chest and the thick layers of his wool coat to create a protective barrier around Kenzie's fragile body. "If you throw up on my coat, I'm leaving you on the side of the road," he added, though the careful way he shielded her head belied the harsh words.

Kenzie immediately stopped struggling. She nestled into his neck, a smug satisfaction warming her chest. "Deal. Let's go, tyrant."

Devin hit the elevator button. They plummeted down to the underground garage. A sleek, black Aston Martin DBS was waiting, its engine already growling like a caged beast. Arthur was standing by the driver's door, but Devin pushed him aside.

"I'm driving. You follow with the team," Devin snapped. He opened the passenger door and quickly strapped Kenzie into a top-of-the-line car seat that had magically appeared in the back. He buckled the five-point harness with quick, efficient movements.

Kenzie looked around the interior. The leather, the carbon fiber, the rumble of the V12 engine. "Not bad," she thought, impressed. "Zero to sixty in three point four seconds. Might actually make it in time."

Devin slid into the driver's seat. He heard her thought and a grim smile touched his lips. "Hold on, little monster."

He slammed his foot on the gas. The Aston Martin roared and shot out of the garage, the tires squealing against the wet concrete. They hit the street, and Devin wrenched the wheel, weaving through traffic with a terrifying precision.

Kenzie's tactical mind kicked into high gear. She stared out the windshield, calculating distances and traffic patterns. "Turn right! Take Sixth Avenue!" she yelled in her mind. "Broadway is a parking lot right now! The theaters just let out!"

Devin saw the wall of red taillights ahead. He didn't hesitate. He cranked the wheel, the car drifting sideways through a narrow gap in traffic. They shot down Sixth Avenue, the engine screaming.

"Left on 50th! Cut through the park! It's faster!"

Devin obeyed, the car jumping the curb slightly as they carved a path through the city. They were a bullet tearing through the heart of Manhattan, driven by a man who owned the city and navigated by a baby who used to protect it.