Nathaniel told the bodyguards, “Keep him awake all night. Go easy—no real damage—and have a doctor check on him. I want him alive.”

He had promised to make Nicholas experience a living hell, and he intended to keep that promise.

Death would be far too easy. Twins or not, Nathaniel had no intention of granting him that kind of release.

The next morning, a shrill ringtone yanked Cecilia out of sleep.

Without opening her eyes, she groped across the sheets, her movements slow with fatigue.

Nathaniel’s longer reach got there first. “It’s my phone,” he murmured. “Mom’s calling.”

“Oh,” she mumbled.