Chapter 2 - Victor Knox already knew
Seraphine stopped moving.
Not because I had frightened her.
Because she understood the sentence.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“You’re lying.”
I looked toward the west entrance.
Victor Knox stood there.
Sixty-eight.
Gray hair.
Black tuxedo.
A man who had spent forty years building a reputation almost as heavy as mine.
He had arrived through a private entrance twenty minutes earlier.
Seraphine had not seen him.
Victor walked into the ballroom.
His expression was not angry.
That made the moment worse for her.
“Dad.”
He looked at the cake.
Then at Liora.
Then at Seraphine.
“What did you do?”
Seraphine swallowed.
“Evander attacked me.”
“That is not what I asked.”
She stared at him.
Victor looked at Liora.
“Were you locked in that room?”
Liora tightened her grip on my hand.
“Yes.”
Victor closed his eyes.
I did not enjoy his reaction.
I was still angry enough to want someone to suffer.
That did not mean I wanted an old man to learn his daughter had been hurting a child.
Seraphine said:
“She was disrupting meetings.”
Victor looked at her.
“She is eight.”
“She listens to everything.”
“Then adults should stop discussing confidential business around an eight-year-old.”
There.
Not:
She should be locked away.
I looked toward my security director, Caleb Stone.
“Call police.”
Half the ballroom shifted.
Some people literally stepped backward.
Seraphine stared.
“You are bringing police into this?”
“Yes.”
“Evander, think about what happened two minutes ago.”
“I am.”
“You assaulted me.”
“Yes.”
The word left my mouth before my lawyer could interrupt.
Good.
I had.
The cake was not self-defense.
Liora was already safe.
I looked at Caleb.
“Police document everything.”
Seraphine’s eyes narrowed.
“You think your name makes you untouchable.”
No.
My family had spent generations believing exactly that.
“No.”
I looked at Liora.
May you like
“That is why they’re coming.”
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