Chapter 1
Vanessa slapped Ethan beside the deep end and shoved him into the pool.
For one second, Valentina Moretti saw nothing except her son disappearing beneath blue water.
She ran.
Thomas caught her from behind.
One thick forearm locked across her throat.
Her father dragged her backward while Ethan vanished beneath the surface.
“Swimming is instinctive for dogs.”
Thomas laughed.
Vanessa laughed too.
So did two frightened guests who immediately stopped when Valentina looked at them.
She stamped hard on Thomas’s foot, twisted beneath his arm and broke free.
Then she dove.
Ethan felt impossibly small underwater.
Valentina dragged him onto the tiles.
He coughed violently and wrapped both arms around her soaked gown.
“Mom.”
“I’m here.”
Marcus was already moving.
Not toward Ethan.
Under a cocktail table.
Toward the tablet case the boy had dropped.
The tablet suddenly activated.
A recorded voice filled the terrace.
“We’ll stage it to look like an accident.”
Marcus froze.
Valentina looked up.
He lunged for the tablet.
She stood.
Marcus swung first.
One counterpunch sent him backward through the rolling cocktail station.
Ice buckets crashed.
Flutes scattered.
Vanessa rushed in next and grabbed for the device.
Valentina tore her hand away, slapped her once and kicked her backward into the DJ stand.
Then she turned toward Thomas.
Ethan stood behind two bodyguards wrapped in a towel.
Water ran from Valentina’s hair.
She raised the still-playing tablet.
“If you like staging things so much, tomorrow I’ll stage your disappearance.”
Thomas’s smile vanished.
But Ethan tugged one guard’s sleeve.
“Mom…”
Valentina looked at him.
The child pointed toward Thomas.
“Grandpa told Vanessa to wait until the music got loud.”
The entire terrace went silent.
Thomas stared at Ethan.
Not shocked.
Angry.
May you like
And Valentina understood that her son had not merely recorded a conversation.
He had heard them practicing the timing.
