Chapter 1 - THE FOOTSTEPS BEHIND HER
“Take your hand off my son.”
The voice did not rise. It did not need to.
Serena Montigue froze with one fist twisted in baby Ethan’s shirt. Lily Hart lay on the marble floor three feet away, one arm wrapped around her stomach, fighting for breath. The fourteen-month-old boy whimpered beside the staircase, his left arm held tight against his chest.
At the far end of the foyer, Victor Blackwood stepped out of the shadowed hall.
He had returned from New York two hours early. No motorcade. No warning. He had wanted to surprise Serena before their engagement dinner.
Instead, he had walked into a nightmare.
Serena released the baby so quickly that Ethan tipped sideways. Lily crawled forward and caught him with both hands.
“Victor,” Serena whispered. Her face changed in an instant. The coldness vanished. Tears gathered in her eyes. “Thank God you’re here. Lily lost control. She grabbed him, and I was trying to stop her.”
Lily stared at her.
“That’s a lie.” Her voice came out thin, but steady. “She pulled him across the floor. She hurt his arm.”
Serena pressed a hand to her chest. “You see? She’s unstable.”
Victor did not look at either woman. He looked at Ethan.
The child’s face was blotched from crying. One tiny sock was missing. A red mark circled his wrist. When Victor bent to lift him, Ethan screamed before Victor even touched the injured arm.
Something inside Victor went still.
He had built his name in a world where men lied for money and smiled before betrayal. He knew fear. He knew staged tears. He knew the difference between panic and performance.
Serena was performing.
“Marco,” Victor called.
The head of security appeared from the corridor.
“Lock the gates. Call an ambulance. Call the police.”
Serena’s tears stopped.
“The police?”
Victor lifted Ethan carefully against his shoulder. “A child is injured. My nanny is on the floor. Nobody leaves.”
Lily tried to stand, but pain folded her back down.
Victor’s eyes moved to the heel mark darkening the front of her uniform.
“Who did that?” he asked.
Serena stepped forward. “She attacked me first.”
From the floor, Lily opened her hand.
May you like
Inside her palm was a small black button ripped from Serena’s dress—and trapped beneath it was a blinking red light.
“I recorded everything,” Lily said.
