Chapter 1 - THE OPEN GATES
“Go ahead,” Karen said.
“Try to stop us.”
Julian stood beside the shattered remains of his phone, staring at Karen as though she had committed an unforgivable crime.
The device had struck the edge of his black marble desk before breaking across the floor.
Its screen continued to flash beneath the scattered glass.
Julian barely seemed to notice Lily’s trembling hands.
He did not look at the red mark around her wrist.
All he saw was the destruction of something expensive that belonged to him.
“Do you have any idea how much that phone cost?” he demanded.
Karen stepped between him and Lily.
“Do you have any idea what touching my daughter is going to cost you?”
Julian’s eyes darkened.
Heavy footsteps approached from the hallway.
Three men in dark security uniforms appeared in the doorway.
At the front was Grant Mercer, the head of Julian’s private security team.
Julian pointed at Karen.
“Take her phone.”
Grant remained still.
“Then lock both of them in the east guest suite,” Julian continued.
Lily gripped the back of Karen’s jacket.
“Mom…”
Karen covered her daughter’s hand with her own.
“No one is locking us anywhere.”
Julian gave Grant an impatient look.
“Why are you still standing there?”
Grant’s gaze shifted toward the leather strap hanging from Julian’s hand.
Then he looked at Lily’s injured wrist.
“What happened in here?” Grant asked.
“That is none of your concern.”
“It becomes my concern when a child is involved.”
Julian took a step closer.
“I pay you to follow orders.”
“You pay me to protect the people inside this estate.”
Julian gave a humorless laugh.
“From intruders.”
“Tonight, the threat was already inside.”
The other security guards exchanged uncertain glances.
Karen had known Grant for five years, but they had rarely spoken beyond polite greetings.
Julian had always described him as loyal, disciplined and incapable of questioning authority.
Apparently, Julian had been wrong.
“Stand aside,” Karen told him.
Grant stepped away from the doorway.
Julian’s expression changed.
“You let her leave, and you are finished.”
Grant removed his security badge and placed it on the desk.
“Then I’m finished.”
Karen guided Lily into the hallway.
Julian followed them.
“You will not make it past the front gates.”
Karen continued walking.
“Security will stop you.”
No one moved.
“Karen!”
She stopped near the top of the grand staircase.
For six years, the mansion had been displayed in magazines as a symbol of Julian Voss’s success.
Every surface was polished.
Every painting had been selected by a consultant.
Every room was designed to make visitors feel small.
Karen had once mistaken control for elegance.
Now she saw the house for what it had become.
A beautiful prison.
She turned toward Julian.
“I told you what would happen.”
“You have nothing,” he said.
“The company is mine.”
“The accounts are mine.”
“The house is mine.”
“Even your reputation belongs to me.”
Karen looked at him calmly.
“That is what you believe.”
“I know it.”
“You should have checked the documents you forced me to sign.”
For the first time, uncertainty flickered across his face.
“What documents?”
Karen did not answer.
She led Lily downstairs.
Grant followed several feet behind them.
Outside, cold rain swept across the stone driveway.
A black SUV waited near the side entrance.
Grant unlocked it and opened the rear door.
Karen helped Lily inside.
Before Karen could follow, Julian appeared beneath the entrance canopy.
“Close the gates!” he shouted into the security radio.
At the end of the driveway, two massive iron gates began moving toward each other.
Grant jumped behind the wheel.
Karen climbed into the passenger seat.
The SUV accelerated.
The gates continued closing.
Lily cried out as the opening narrowed.
“Faster,” Karen said.
Grant pressed the accelerator.
The vehicle shot through the gap seconds before the gates slammed together.
Metal scraped the rear bumper, but they made it onto the road.
Karen looked back.
Julian stood beneath the mansion lights, watching them disappear.
Then two sets of headlights appeared behind them.
Grant checked the mirror.
“Secondary security vehicles.”
“Are they trying to bring us back?”
Grant watched the cars gain speed.
“No.”
The first vehicle struck the SUV from behind.
Lily screamed.
Grant fought to keep control on the wet road.
Karen reached back and held her daughter’s hand.
“Stay down.”
A second impact pushed them toward the edge of a steep embankment.
Grant turned sharply.
The pursuing vehicle slipped sideways but recovered.
Karen looked at him.
“Julian ordered this?”
“Maybe not directly.”
“He never gives direct orders.”
The road curved through the forest.
Grant switched off the headlights.
“What are you doing?” Karen asked.
“Giving them something to follow.”
He activated the SUV’s emergency rear lights, then slammed on the brakes beside an abandoned maintenance road.
The first pursuing car flew past them.
Grant reversed onto the hidden road and shut down the engine.
The second car followed the first into the distance.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Only the rain moved around them.
Lily began crying silently.
Karen climbed into the back seat and pulled her close.
“I’m sorry,” Lily whispered.
“You did nothing wrong.”
“I went into Julian’s office.”
Karen wiped the tears from her daughter’s face.
“Why?”
“I was looking for my tablet.”
“Did you find it?”
“No.”
Lily reached beneath her sweater.
She removed a small silver flash drive attached to a chain.
“But I found this inside his safe.”
Grant turned toward them.
“What is on it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Julian does,” Lily said.
“That is why he was hurting me.”
Karen stared at the drive.
Julian had risked exposing himself to stop Lily from taking it.
Whatever it contained was more valuable to him than his public image.
More valuable than his marriage.
Perhaps more valuable than Hale Meridian itself.
Karen closed her hand around the drive as another vehicle appeared at the entrance of the maintenance road.
Its headlights came directly toward them.
Grant reached beneath his jacket for his weapon.
The approaching car stopped.
A woman stepped out and raised both hands.
Karen recognized her immediately.
It was Evelyn Price, the attorney Julian had fired three years earlier.
May you like
Evelyn approached the SUV and spoke through the rain.
“If Lily found the silver drive,” she said, “then Julian has already ordered all three of you killed”:
