Chapter 8 - The Desperate Strike
Four weeks later.
The mountain sanctuary outside of Boulder was covered in a pristine blanket of fresh, white snow. The sprawling stone-and-timber estate was nestled deep within three hundred acres of private pine forest, protected by a state-of-the-art perimeter security network and a dedicated team of former military contractors who answered only to me.
Inside, the smell of cinnamon and fresh pine filled the air. Lily was sitting on a plush rug in front of the massive stone fireplace, laughing delightedly as she arranged miniature wooden horses inside a toy barn.
Her cheeks were round and pink again. Her weight had normalized, and the dark purple bruises had completely faded from her golden skin, leaving behind only the faintest, vanishing silver line on her right hand. She had begun speech therapy, though she hardly needed it anymore—she talked constantly, telling me stories about birds, clouds, and what color she wanted to paint her treehouse.
I sat at the heavy walnut kitchen island, reviewing the final legal dispatches from Marcus.
Grant had been denied bail. The forensic audit had uncovered twelve separate shell companies and an illicit offshore account used to buy hush-money agreements from previous women he had manipulated. His plea deal had fallen apart after the Department of Justice added twelve counts of federal tax evasion to the indictment. He was facing twenty-five years in a federal penitentiary.
Vanessa, however, had managed to secure a ten-million-dollar cash bond posted by an offshore trust associated with her mother’s family. She was on home confinement at a secondary Vale estate in Aspen, fitted with an ankle monitor, awaiting her criminal trial set for the following month.
My satellite phone vibrated on the counter.
I picked it up. “Vance.”
“Director,” Marcus’s voice came through, hard and clipped. “We have an alert on Vanessa Vale’s tracking unit. It was breached twelve minutes ago. An unauthorized secondary signal was deployed to spoof her location.”
My eyes narrowed. My pulse remained steady, but the cold predator inside me woke up instantly. “Where is she?”
“Our satellite surveillance caught a black SUV leaving the Aspen property headed east toward the Boulder foothills. She’s not alone. Richard Vale’s former head of private security, a rogue ex-contractor named Vance Briggs, is driving. They’re running dark.”
“She’s coming here,” I stated, setting down my pen.
“She’s delusional, Evelyn,” Marcus said. “Her father cut her off completely yesterday after the SEC froze the Vale corporate accounts. She has no money, no social standing, and no future. She thinks she can use Lily to force you to drop the charges and release the frozen trust funds.”
“She thinks like an amateur,” I said softly. “Notify the perimeter team to hold their fire. Let them breach the outer gate.”
“Understood. Tactical containment ready on your mark.”
I hung up, walked over to the fireplace, and knelt beside Lily.
“Sweetheart,” I said gently, touching her shoulder. “Aunt Sarah is in the library with some fresh chocolate chip cookies. Why don’t you go show her how you arranged the horses?”
Lily looked at me, sensing the slight shift in the air, but her eyes held complete trust. She nodded, scrambled to her feet, and threw her arms around my neck, planting a sticky, sweet kiss on my cheek.
“I love you, Mommy.”
“I love you more than the stars, Lily bug. Go on now.”
She skipped off toward the library, her giggles fading behind the heavy oak door.
May you like
The moment the latch clicked, I walked over to the gun cabinet concealed behind the wood paneling of the study. I selected a custom Sig Sauer 9mm, checked the chamber with a crisp metallic snap, holstered it beneath my cashmere cardigan, and walked out onto the stone veranda into the freezing night.
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