Leo woke up coughing from the heat. In the adjoining kitchen, Sarah was polishing silverware near the open doorway. She knew that cry. It wasn't a hungry cry. It was a distressed cry. She dropped the cloth and rushed in without thinking.

The rain poured relentlessly over the Westchester valley, washing away the road lines in a torrent of mud and cold water.

Sarah sat inside a small, dimly lit diner two miles down the hill from the estate, wrapped in a thin wool blanket provided by a sympathetic waitress. A hot mug of black coffee sat untouched in front of her.

Her mind was firing like a runaway engine.

Ethan had evicted her. The estate was locked. Victoria was inside with Ethan and baby Leo, completely unchecked.

D.V.

The initials on the broken gold locket kept repeating in Sarah’s mind. Julian Vance.

She pulled her cell phone from her dress pocket. Her arm still throbbed from yesterday's burn, but she ignored it. She opened her browser and typed in: Julian Vance New York scandal digitalis.

Articles immediately flooded her screen from five years ago:

VANCE ENTERPRISES HEIR ACCUSED OF PHARMACEUTICAL FRAUD

Julian Vance, 28, fled the country following allegations of illegally distributing synthetic cardiac toxins, including concentrated digitalis...

Sarah’s thumb scrolled furiously down the page.

...Investigators believe Vance was aided by his younger sister, Victoria Vance, who managed his private offshore accounts prior to his exile...

Victoria wasn't just a socialite trying to marry into money. Her family’s firm, Vance Enterprises, was on the verge of total bankruptcy due to illegal European drug debts. The merger with Ethan’s firm wasn't a business expansion—it was a desperate takeover.

And if Ethan died—or if his sole infant heir died—the corporate clauses in the merger agreement transferred seventy percent of Ethan’s estate voting rights straight to the Vance family board!

They weren't just trying to eliminate Leo to get Ethan's attention. They were eliminating Leo so that if Ethan died in a sudden "accident," no child heir existed to hold the trust!

"Oh God," Sarah gasped out loud, pushing herself up from the booth.

She looked at the clock on the diner wall. 7:45 PM.

Ethan’s corporate legal team was scheduled to arrive at the estate tomorrow morning to sign the merger. Victoria was going to finish the job tonight.