No one ever warned Adrian Hale that love could make a man this cautious.
After his wife Eleanor died in childbirth, leaving behind three fragile babies and a silence that swallowed their mansion whole, Adrian learned to trust no one easily. Money had always attracted the wrong kind of attention, but now, with three infants depending on him, his fear sharpened into something relentless.
For nearly two years, Adrian raised the triplets with the help of rotating nannies. Most didn’t last. Some were careless. Some were overwhelmed. A few were kind—but temporary.
Then came Vanessa.
She was polished, elegant, and disarmingly warm. She laughed softly, held Adrian’s hand during sleepless nights, and told him the babies were “a blessing, not a burden.” Slowly, against his better judgment, Adrian allowed himself to hope again. Within months, Vanessa moved into the mansion, insisting she wanted to help him “build a real family.”
But he didn’t leave.
Instead, Adrian slipped back through the side entrance, climbed into the hidden passage behind his study—installed years ago for security—and watched the living room through discreet cameras he had never once used on her before.
He told himself this was the last time. That he only needed reassurance.
What he saw made his chest tighten.
At first, everything looked normal. Vanessa paced the room as the triplets cried in their strollers. She sighed dramatically, checked her phone, then muttered under her breath.
“Unbelievable,” she snapped. “All at once. Every time.”
She didn’t rush to soothe them. Instead, she pointed a manicured finger toward the nearest stroller, her voice sharp and impatient.
“Stop. Crying.”
The babies cried louder.
Adrian’s stomach dropped.
Vanessa yanked open the closet and pulled out the door to the nursery, slamming it harder than necessary. A nanny tried to intervene—young, nervous, clearly overwhelmed—but Vanessa cut her off.
“I said I’ve got it. Go take a break. Or do you want your pay docked?”
The nanny hesitated… then left.
Vanessa stood alone with the triplets, all three red-faced and wailing.
Her composure snapped.
“Oh, for God’s sake!” she yelled. “Do you know how exhausting you are?”
She shoved one stroller slightly aside—not violently, but carelessly enough to make the baby jolt and scream harder.
Adrian’s breath caught. His hand hovered over the phone, ready to call security.
But then—
There was movement by the wardrobe door.
Adrian froze.
From the open wardrobe, a man emerged slowly—wide-eyed, pale, clearly terrified. He wasn’t dressed like staff. He wasn’t security.
He was a stranger.
“What are you doing?” Vanessa hissed.
“I—I thought you said he’d be gone all weekend,” the man whispered.
Adrian felt the world tilt.
Vanessa spun on him. “He is gone.”
“He’s not coming back early, right?”
She scoffed. “Relax. He never does.”
The babies cried louder, as if sensing the tension.
“Why are they still screaming?” the man snapped, covering his ears. “You said they’d be quiet.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes. “They’re babies. That’s all they do.”
Adrian didn’t hesitate anymore.
He burst through the hidden door.
“Get away from my children.”
Vanessa screamed.
The man staggered backward, nearly tripping over a stroller. The babies jolted, wailing harder.
Vanessa turned white.
“Adrian—wait—I can explain—”
“You moved another man into my house,” Adrian said, his voice deadly calm. “While my children were crying. While you threatened my staff. While you thought I was gone.”
Security arrived within seconds.
The man bolted but was stopped at the door. Vanessa collapsed into tears, reaching for Adrian’s arm.
