The scent of antiseptic clung to the air like regret cold, clean, sterile.
She sat in the hospital room beside the bed, watching her daughter's tiny chest rise and fall beneath a thin sheet. A line of gauze stitched across Amelia's forehead, the only physical mark from a night that had nearly ended everything.
Her own hands were still trembling.
Everything else the mansion, the meetings, the accounts, the goddamn wedding faded into static. All that mattered now lay sleeping in front of her, clutching a stuffed rabbit with one ear missing.
Sienna Hale CEO of Hale Dynamics, one of the few self made women in Orange County's hyper competitive corporate scene was not supposed to be here. She was supposed to be hosting pre wedding luncheons, smiling through diamond choked dinner parties, and signing the merger agreement that would hand over her company's future to the Park family.
But that was before Jayden.
Before a stranger stepped out of smoke and gunfire to pull her and Amelia from the jaws of death like it was just another Tuesday.
Sienna exhaled and leaned back in the chair, heels kicked off, her once-perfect silk blouse stained with dried blood and ash. Her chestnut hair was pulled back in a makeshift knot, stray strands framing a face that was still breathtaking even in exhaustion. The world knew her as flawless, composed, untouchable.
But in this room, she was just a mother holding on by threads.
A soft knock on the door snapped her out of the fog.
Her cousin, Max Hale, stepped in. Sharp suit. Fake smile. A vulture in designer cologne.
"Sienna, the board is waiting on your decision," he said, voice smooth but hollow. "The Park deal's on ice since your little outburst."
"My daughter almost died, Max," she replied, eyes locked on Amelia. "Forgive me if I missed the memo."
Max ignored that. "I'm just saying… walking away from the Park family? That's not just bad optics, it's suicide. They were your last shot at keeping Hale Dynamics afloat. You think this company can survive on sentiment?"
She stood slowly, the exhaustion hardening into steel. "The company was already bleeding before they came into the picture. You and your siblings saw to that."
Max's smirk flickered. "That's business, cousin. We're family, not saints."
"No," she said, voice low, dangerous. "You're parasites who wear my last name like armor while bleeding me dry."
She stepped toward him. "And just for the record, I was ready to go through with the engagement. I would've married that cold blooded freak of a man if it meant saving Hale Dynamics. But then I watched him walk away from my daughter while she cried out in pain."
Max scoffed. "She's not even his blood."
Sienna's hand cracked across his face before she could stop herself. A clean slap, echoing.
He staggered back, face red, eyes wide.
"You ever speak about Amelia like that again, I swear to God I'll bury you in lawsuits so deep you'll need to learn Mandarin just to ask for help."
Max straightened his tie, fury simmering under his breath, but he didn't speak. He knew when a line had been drawn.
She opened the door. "Now get the hell out of this hospital. You and your kind don't belong near anything human."
He left, and silence returned.
Sienna walked back to the bed and sat down. Her hand brushed through Amelia's hair, careful not to disturb the bandage.
There was a time when she thought success would shield them from things like this. That if she worked hard enough, built enough, fought enough, they'd be untouchable. But power didn't protect you it just changed who came to hurt you.
And last night proved something else too.
All the wealth in the world couldn't stop a bullet.
But one man could.
She didn't even know his last name. Just that he moved like a phantom and looked at her not like a commodity but like someone worth saving.
Jayden.
His name alone stuck in her mind like a match ready to be lit.
Who was he?
Where did he learn to fight like that?
And why, when all the rich men she knew hid behind lawyers and bodyguards, did this stranger step into a warzone for a woman he didn't even know?
A soft whimper pulled her back. Amelia stirred, blinking up at her.
"Mommy?"
"I'm here, baby." Sienna leaned down and kissed her forehead.
"Where's the man? The one who saved us?"
Sienna smiled, brushing a tear from her cheek. "He's… somewhere out there. I think he has more people to save."
Amelia nodded sleepily. "I liked him. He wasn't scared."
"No," Sienna whispered. "He wasn't."
Outside the window, the sun was beginning to rise, slicing the clouds with gold.
Sienna stood and looked out over Orange County's skyline. Her world was burning. Her family wanted her controlled. Her enemies wanted her broken. But she still had her daughter. She still had her mind. And now… she had a reason to fight.
No more compromise.
No more pretending.
If the Park family wanted a war for walking away from their golden boy?
She'd show them how a real woman defends her blood.
And if Jayden was still out there?
She hoped they crossed paths again.
Not just because she owed him.
But because something about the way he looked at her…
It reminded her of who she used to be before the lies, before the politics, before survival became her job title.
Sienna Hale wasn't done.
She was just getting started.