Chapter 3 - The Shadow of the Ledger
The rain had turned into a steady, freezing drizzle by the time we reached my car.
It wasn't a luxury sedan anymore—I had traded in my sports car two years ago for an understated black SUV that didn't draw attention. I strapped Lily into the backseat booster chair while Elena stood under the awning of the school, shivering violently despite the heater blowing from the open car door.
I walked over to her, pulling off my heavy wool coat and draping it over her frail shoulders.
"You don't have to do this," Elena whispered, her teeth chattering. Her eyes were fixed on the rearview mirror of my car, watching for Marcus's blue sedan. "You don't even know us. You danced with my daughter for twenty minutes because you felt sorry for her."
"I didn't feel sorry for her," I said quietly, leaning against the side of the car so the rain didn't hit her face directly. "I saw a kid who deserved a win. And today, I saw a mother who needs an ally."
Elena looked up at me, her eyes red-rimmed and fierce. "Marcus isn't just an absent father, Ethan. You don't understand what he is. He doesn't want Lily because he loves her. He wants her because she's the only thing that keeps my mouth shut about what he did in Cleveland."
"The eighty thousand dollars?" I asked.
"That wasn't business debt," Elena choked out, wrapping my coat tighter around herself. "That was stolen money from a logistics firm he ran into the ground. He used my name on the corporate filings without my knowledge. If he gets full custody of Lily, he can force me to sign an indemnity waiver to protect his new investors in Chicago."
I took a deep breath, the cold air burning my lungs. "He's using his own daughter as a bargaining chip for a corporate settlement."
"He's a sociopath with a clean suit," she said rasply. "And now he knows you helped me renew that protection order. He won't stop, Ethan. He'll find out who you are. He'll look for anything he can use to burn you down."
I almost laughed. A small, dark smile touched my lips before I could stop it.
"Let him look," I said softly.
"Ethan... you don't know what he's capable of."
"Elena," I said, stepping closer so she didn't have to raise her voice over the rain. "My name is Ethan Vance. No relation to Marcus, ironically. Three years ago, I was the senior managing partner at Sterling & Croft Asset Management. I spent ten years taking apart men like Marcus for breakfast before I got tired of watching rich bastards destroy normal people's lives."
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Elena stared at me, her mouth parting slightly in disbelief. "You're... you're a financial lawyer?"
"I was," I corrected. "Now I'm a guy who fixes things for people who can't afford a ten-thousand-dollar retainer. Now get in the car. We're going to my office before Marcus remembers how to use a court docket."
