Chapter 2
I cleared the terrace.
Guests were moved into the main ballroom.
Children went upstairs with their mothers.
Nobody left the estate.
Preston complained.
I ignored him.
Veronica threatened to call people.
I took her phone.
She stopped threatening.
Audrey sat in the pool house wrapped in two towels while the estate doctor examined her.
Sofia refused to leave my lap.
I didn't make her.
There are moments when a father teaches independence.
That wasn't one of them.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
Audrey looked toward Sofia.
I understood.
“Sofia.”
My daughter looked up.
“Do you want to go upstairs with Maria?”
She immediately tightened her arms around me.
“No.”
“Then you stay.”
Audrey nodded.
“This morning, Miss Veronica told me to keep Sofia away from the west terrace.”
“Why?”
“She said important guests were coming.”
I looked through the pool house windows.
There had been no meeting on my calendar.
“What guests?”
“I didn't see them.”
Audrey hesitated.
“I heard them.”
Preston shifted beside the door.
Two guards immediately watched him.
Audrey continued.
“I was bringing clean towels through the side corridor when I heard Mr. Hale talking to someone inside the small pool office.”
“What did he say?”
She swallowed.
“That everything had to look like Voss.”
The name hit the room differently.
Adrian Voss.
Not a friend.
Not exactly an enemy either.
We had spent four years carefully avoiding becoming either.
He controlled crews west of the river.
I controlled most of the east.
Neither of us enjoyed funerals enough to start unnecessary wars.
Preston laughed.
“This maid hears one name and suddenly we're planning murder?”
Sofia buried her face against my chest.
I looked at him.
“You're frightening her.”
That shut him up.
Audrey continued.
“Sofia came around the corner before I could stop her.”
“What did she hear?”
Audrey looked at my daughter.
Sofia whispered before she could answer.
“Uncle Preston said Daddy gets mad.”
My hand stopped moving against her back.
“What else, sweetheart?”
She frowned.
Children don't remember conversations.
They remember pieces.
Faces.
Sounds.
Words that felt strange.
“He said Daddy sees snake… Daddy goes boom.”
Preston's face changed.
Small.
But I saw it.
Audrey did too.
She looked at me.
“There is a silver serpent on Voss's family mark.”
I knew.
So did every man in the room.
I turned toward Preston.
He shrugged.
“Coincidence.”
I stood.
Sofia stayed in my arms.
“What happened next?”
Audrey took a breath.
“Veronica saw Sofia.”
My eyes moved to her.
“She asked what Sofia heard. Sofia wouldn't answer.”
Veronica finally spoke.
“This is absurd.”
Audrey kept going.
“She told me to take Sofia to the enclosure.”
“Why?”
“She said it was a game.”
My jaw tightened.
“I refused.”
“And then?”
“She grabbed Sofia herself.”
Sofia whimpered.
I felt it against my chest.
Audrey's voice dropped.
“I tried to stop her.”
“The pool?”
She nodded.
“She shoved me.”
Preston laughed again.
“She's exaggerating.”
Audrey turned toward him.
“You held the gate shut.”
Silence.
That was new.
I looked at Preston.
“You helped lock my daughter inside?”
“No.”
Sofia lifted her head.
“Yes.”
One word.
Nothing dramatic.
Preston went pale anyway.
I stared at him.
Then at Veronica.
“You expected both of them to die.”
Veronica crossed her arms.
“You're emotional.”
I almost smiled.
That was the wrong thing to say to a man like me.
I crouched in front of Sofia.
“Baby, did Aunt Veronica have anything in her hand?”
Sofia thought.
Then nodded.
“Silver thing.”
“What kind?”
She made a circle with two fingers.
“A snake.”
Nobody spoke.
I slowly stood.
Adrian Voss's symbol.
Exactly what Audrey had heard them discussing.
I looked at my head of security.
“Search the terrace.”
Veronica moved.
Just half a step.
Toward the daybed where she had fallen.
My guards noticed.
So did I.
Ten minutes later, they lifted one of the scattered cushions.
Underneath it was a silver medallion.
A serpent wrapped around a crown.
Voss.
Except I knew something Preston apparently didn't.
I had seen Adrian Voss's mark hundreds of times.
The serpent on his real medallion faced left.
This one faced right.
It wasn't evidence.
It was a prop.
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Someone wasn't trying to hide Adrian Voss's involvement.
They were trying to make sure I saw it.
