Chapter 1
“You bullied my little sister because you thought she was alone?”
I did not raise my voice.
I didn’t need to.
Ellis was half-buried beneath the collapsed towel cabinet, Vanessa was trapped beneath garment bags and the tilted luggage rack, and every doorway to the private lounge now held one of my men.
Noah stood against Sabrina’s legs.
The black card rested in my palm.
Six million dollars.
Not ordinary money.
Mercer emergency money.
A reserve my father created years ago for one purpose: if a Mercer woman ever became trapped somewhere the family could not openly reach, the card gave her access to cash, transport, safe houses, and men who answered no questions until she was home.
Only three black cards had ever existed.
Mine.
Sabrina’s.
And the one my father destroyed before he died.
Ellis should never have known about any of them.
I looked at Sabrina.
“Why does Noah have this?”
She swallowed.
“I gave it to him this morning.”
Ellis moved under the broken frame.
“Don’t.”
Interesting.
Not don’t hurt me.
Don’t explain.
I looked at my sister again.
“Why?”
Her fingers tightened around Noah’s shoulder.
“Because Vanessa searched me before we came in.”
Vanessa laughed from the floor. “She makes everything sound dramatic.”
Noah immediately shrank against Sabrina.
I saw it.
“So you hid the card on him.”
Sabrina nodded.
“I thought they wouldn’t search a child.”
Ellis’s face hardened.
That told me they would have.
I crouched until I was level with Noah.
“What did Vanessa tell you?”
His lower lip shook.
“If I didn’t listen…”
He looked up at Sabrina.
“…she’d hurt Mom.”
The room went cold.
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“He’s three. He repeats anything.”
I turned my head.
“You threaten children badly.”
Her expression changed.
Then I looked at Ellis.
“You knew about the reserve.”
Silence.
“You knew Sabrina still had access.”
Still nothing.
“And today you were putting my nephew on a plane.”
Ellis finally smiled.
“A school trip.”
Four matching academy backpacks sat beside the wall.
Five children.
One terrified mother.
One emergency card.
I looked at the departure board.
Their flight was headed west.
Not toward Noah’s academy.
Toward one of the oldest Chappell-controlled territories in the country.
I turned back to Ellis.
“You weren’t sending him to school.”
His smile disappeared.
May you like
I closed my hand around the card.
“You were taking him somewhere Sabrina couldn’t follow.”
