PREGNANT CASHIER’S HUSBAND DESTROYED HER PHONE SO SHE COULDN’T CALL FOR HELP—HE HAD NO IDEA A MAFIA BOSS WAS WATCHING FROM AISLE THREE

then hesitated.

“For what it’s worth, Elena Carter, I hate black coffee too.”

She looked at him skeptically.

“You were holding one in the store.”

“I buy it when I need to look like I belong somewhere.”

A laugh escaped her.

Small. Rusty. Unexpected.

But real.

PART 3

Elena’s labor began during a thunderstorm.

Not the gentle kind that drifted across the city like continue reading …