Chapter 1 - THE BRUISE AT THE DINNER TABLE
“What bruise?”
Grant Ashford did not raise his voice.
He did not need to.
The question traveled across the long dining table with enough weight to make Lily Harper feel as if the mansion itself had turned to look at her.
Grace still had one small hand stretched toward her mother.
“The purple one,” she said.
Lily quickly pulled her sleeve lower.
“It’s nothing, Mr. Ashford.”
Grant's gaze moved to her wrist.
“Show me.”
Blair Sutton gave a small laugh.
“Oh, Grant. Please. Lily probably bumped into a cabinet.”
Lily looked at Blair.
Something about the speed of the answer bothered her.
Apparently, it bothered Grant too.
“I asked Lily.”
The room went silent again.
Blair's smile tightened.
Lily felt every instinct inside her screaming to make the moment disappear.
She needed this job.
She needed the carriage-house apartment.
She needed Grace's insurance.
Men like Grant Ashford could survive scandal before breakfast.
Women like Lily could lose everything because a rich family decided she had become inconvenient.
“I slipped,” she said.
Grace frowned.
“No.”
Lily's heart stopped.
“Sweetheart—”
“The bad man squeezed Mommy.”
Grant's face changed.
It was a small change.
His jaw tightened.
His eyes became still.
“What bad man?”
Grace looked around the table as if surprised the adults did not already understand.
“The smoking man.”
Lily stood so quickly her chair scraped across the floor.
“Grace needs to go to bed.”
Grant rose.
“Lily.”
“She's tired.”
“Who is the smoking man?”
“No one.”
Grace began to look frightened.
Lily immediately regretted the sharpness in her voice.
She lifted her daughter from the booster seat.
“I'm sorry. We're leaving.”
Blair leaned back in her chair.
“For once, I agree.”
Grant turned toward her.
Blair lifted her wine.
“What? This is obviously a personal matter.”
“A man assaulted an employee on my property.”
“We don't know that.”
“Grace just said—”
“Grace is three.”
Lily stopped near the service door.
Blair's voice followed her.
“Children imagine things.”
Grace buried her face against Lily's neck.
Lily felt the little girl's body stiffen.
She turned.
“My daughter doesn't lie.”
Blair's eyes narrowed.
It was the first openly defiant thing Lily had ever said to her.
Grant noticed.
So did everyone else.
Lily walked out.
She reached the kitchen before Grant caught up.
“Lily.”
She continued toward the staff corridor.
“Stop.”
She did.
Not because he was her employer.
Because Grace had begun to cry.
Grant saw it and immediately lowered his voice.
“I'm not angry with you.”
Lily almost laughed.
Rich men always thought anger was the most frightening thing they could offer.
It wasn't.
Power was.
“You should return to dinner, Mr. Ashford.”
“Show me your wrist.”
“I told you what happened.”
“You lied.”
Her eyes snapped toward his.
Grant stood several feet away.
He did not touch her.
That mattered more than he knew.
“I know what a handprint looks like,” he said.
Lily looked down.
The makeup had rubbed away.
Four dark marks curved around her wrist.
A thumbprint bruised the other side.
Grant's expression hardened.
“Who?”
She said nothing.
“Did someone on my staff do this?”
“No.”
“A guest?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Please.”
One word.
Grant stopped.
Lily's voice broke.
“I need this job.”
Understanding moved slowly across his face.
“You think I'm going to fire you?”
“I think people with money don't like complications.”
Behind him, Blair appeared in the corridor.
“How dramatic.”
Lily stiffened.
Grant turned.
“I thought you were at dinner.”
“I was. Then my fiancé abandoned his guests to interrogate the maid.”
Grant's eyes became cold.
“Go back to the dining room.”
Blair stared at him.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
A flash of humiliation crossed her face.
Lily wished she could disappear.
Blair looked at Grace.
The child's face was hidden against Lily.
Then Blair smiled.
“Of course.”
She walked away.
Grant waited until her footsteps disappeared.
“Lily, I need a name.”
She shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain it.”
“He'll come back.”
“Who?”
“He always comes back when he needs something.”
Grant's phone vibrated.
He ignored it.
Lily looked at Grace.
Then she whispered, “Evan Mercer.”
Grant went still.
Lily noticed.
“You know him.”
Grant did not answer quickly enough.
“Mr. Ashford.”
“Where did you meet Evan?”
“Four years ago.”
“Where?”
“Newark.”
Grant looked toward the dark windows.
“When did he come here?”
“Three nights ago.”
“What did he want?”
Lily's silence answered.
Grant stepped closer.
“What did he ask you for?”
“The wedding schedule.”
His expression emptied.
“And?”
“Access to the back entrance. Staff names. Security changes.”
Grant immediately reached for his phone.
Lily caught his sleeve.
“No.”
He looked at her hand.
She released him.
“If he sees security change, he'll know I told you.”
“He already assaulted you.”
“He is Grace's father.”
Grant's gaze moved to the little girl.
Grace was asleep against Lily now.
Or pretending to be.
“Does he know she's here?”
“Yes.”
The answer changed everything.
Grant called his head of security.
“Daniel, lock the estate.”
Lily's face went white.
“No.”
“All gates. No staff leaves without clearance. Find every camera failure from the last seven days.”
He listened.
Then his expression darkened.
“How many?”
Lily watched him.
Grant ended the call.
“What happened?”
“Six cameras went offline three nights ago.”
The night Evan appeared.
Grant looked toward the dining room.
“Someone inside this house helped him.”
A crash sounded upstairs.
Then the mansion went dark.
Grace woke screaming.
Grant moved toward Lily.
“Get down.”
A gunshot shattered the kitchen window.
Grant threw himself over Lily and Grace as glass exploded across the floor.
Security alarms began screaming.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Lily held her daughter beneath her.
Grant drew a pistol from the back of his waistband.
She stared at him.
“You carry a gun?”
“I own property in Manhattan.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
Another shot hit the wall.
Grant looked toward the service corridor.
“Can Grace run?”
“She is three.”
“Right.”
He lifted the child.
Grace immediately wrapped her arms around his neck.
Grant seemed surprised.
There was no time to examine it.
He took Lily's hand.
“Stay behind me.”
They moved through the dark corridor.
At the end stood Blair.
She wore her pale silk dress.
A phone was pressed to her ear.
When she saw Grant, she quickly ended the call.
Grant stopped.
“What are you doing?”
Blair looked at the gun in his hand.
“I heard shots.”
“Who were you calling?”
“My father.”
Grant held out his hand.
“Give me the phone.”
Her face changed.
“Grant.”
“The phone.”
For the first time, Lily saw fear in Blair Sutton's eyes.
Not fear of the gunfire.
Fear of Grant seeing the screen.
Then a man's voice came from the darkness behind them.
“You should listen to your fiancée, Ashford.”
Lily knew that voice.
Evan stepped into the emergency light.
He held a gun.
May you like
And he was smiling directly at Grace.
“Daddy's here.”
