Irene had sworn she would never return to Silver City.

For five years, she’d built a new life in R Country, flying under the radar while raising her brilliant children. She’d had zero intention of ever setting foot in that glittering metropolis again, where the Sterling name still opened doors and crushed careers with equal ease.

But then the letter came.

Her grandfather’s personal secretary had written with shaky hands—the old Sterling patriarch’s health was failing. Three hospital stays in the past month alone. Doctors stumped. Her father John had followed up with a terse email demanding she return to formally cut ties with Richard, but it was her grandfather’s condition that finally tipped the scales.

She owed him everything. When the pregnancy scandal blew up five years ago, he alone had stood by her, arranging her escape to R Country and making sure she and the triplets wouldn’t go hungry. Now he needed her—not just as his granddaughter, but as the talented surgeon she’d become.

And so here she was, watching Silver City’s familiar skyline through the business class window, her reflection ghosting against the dark clouds below. A gentle tug at her sleeve pulled her back to reality. “Mom?” Alex, her eldest by seven minutes, peered at her with those cute eyes. His cherubic face, with dark curls and dimpled cheeks that had flight attendants fawning over him, masked the sharp intelligence behind his gaze. “Are you worried about Great-grandfather?”

Before she could answer, Lucas piped up from her other side, his small face dead serious. “The Silver City Chronicle says he’s been in and out of the hospital three times this month.”

“How did you—” Irene started, then shook her head with a dry smile. Of course. Her middle child’s knack for digging up whatever information he wanted had stopped surprising her long ago. “We’ve talked about hacking, kiddo.”

“It wasn’t hacking,” Lucas protested, the picture of innocence with wide eyes. “It was on their subscriber-only section.”

“Which you subscribed to?” Irene cocked an eyebrow.

A small throat-clearing from Lily, her daughter and youngest triplet, cut off what was clearly going to be a creative explanation from Lucas. “Mom, shouldn’t we go over what to say to Great-grandfather? We’ve never actually met him in person.”

Irene’s face softened. “Just remember what we practiced,” she said, smoothing Lily’s dark curls. “He’s old-school, but he’s got a good heart. Be yourselves—respectful, but natural.”

“We’ll make you proud, Mom,” Alex promised, squaring his tiny shoulders. At five, he already carried himself with a seriousness that sometimes broke her heart. All three of them had grown up too fast, too aware of where they stood in the world.

“You already do, baby. Every single day.” She touched each of their faces, marveling as always at how they’d gotten her dark hair.

“Mom?” Alex’s voice had turned hesitant. “Are we… are we staying in Silver City? After Great-grandfather?”

Irene picked her words carefully. “For now, yes. Great-grandfather needs medical help, and I want to be there for him.” As a top-notch surgeon—though only a handful of people knew her reputation—she knew she could help improve the old man’s condition.

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify