Chapter 1
Grant was still pressed against the ballroom doors when I stopped in front of him.
Designer shoes and broken acrylic shelving surrounded his body. Behind me, Elena remained on the marble among shattered crystal while Lily clung to my jacket with both hands.
“You missed,” I said quietly. “Now tell me who paid you.”
Grant’s face changed.
That interested me.
Not confusion.
Fear.
He looked past me.
Directly toward Celeste.
Too obvious.
Too late.
I turned.
My cousin stood beside one of the illuminated displays, diamond earrings catching the ballroom lights. She was not frightened.
She was furious.
At Grant.
That told me they were connected before either spoke.
“Celeste?”
She laughed.
“You cannot possibly think I told him to drop hundreds of glasses on a child.”
I looked at Grant.
“Did she?”
His jaw tightened.
“Not like that.”
There.
The room became silent.
I stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
Grant swallowed.
“She paid me to create a security failure.”
Lily pressed herself harder against my leg.
I kept my voice low.
“Using my daughter.”
Grant looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
Celeste snapped:
“Enough.”
I looked at her.
She stopped.
Grant continued.
“It wasn’t supposed to hit Lily.”
I almost smiled.
“A structure containing several hundred crystal glasses tilted toward a kneeling three-year-old.”
He closed his eyes.
“It was supposed to fall beside her.”
“Why?”
Silence.
“Grant.”
“To make everyone panic.”
There it was.
Not murder.
Theater.
Public fear.
A room full of captains watching my security collapse around my child.
I looked toward Elena.
She had blood on one sleeve from a shallow crystal cut.
Still protecting Lily.
Still watching Grant.
Celeste had planned a security failure.
But Elena had ruined the scene by becoming proof that somebody had protected my daughter.
Then Lily whispered:
“Daddy?”
I looked down.
She pointed toward her worn flats.
“Elena bought my new shoes.”
My expression changed.
I looked at the shoebox scattered across the floor.
Forty-five dollars.
May you like
And suddenly Celeste’s cruelty about those shoes sounded very different.
Why was my estate maid buying school shoes for my daughter?
