Chapter 4

Arthur did not stay down.

"You bitch!" he roared. Blood poured from his ruined face, staining his teeth a horrific crimson.

He lunged at me with the desperation. His heavy hands clamped around my throat once again, slamming my head back against the hardwood floor. Black spots danced across my vision.

I thrashed beneath his crushing weight. My hand scrambled blindly across the polished wood, searching for anything to save my life.

My fingers closed around a massive, jagged shard of the shattered crystal vase.

I didn't think. I didn't plan it. I just swung.

I drove the sharp glass upward. It sank deep into his side.

Arthur unleashed a bloodcurdling scream. His grip loosened instantly. He collapsed sideways, clutching his bleeding ribs as dark red blood pooled on the pristine rugs.

As he rolled off me, his tailored jacket fell open. I saw the dull gleam of the sleek black handgun he always kept holstered at his hip. He reached for it, his bloody fingers fumbling with the safety strap.

I was faster.

I snatched the heavy weapon from his holster. I scrambled backward, raising the barrel with trembling hands.

Heavy boots pounded against the marble. The two massive bodyguards rushed back into the dining room, their own weapons drawn. They saw Arthur bleeding on the floor. They saw me holding the gun.

"Drop it, Zoe!" one of them shouted, raising his pistol.

I didn't hesitate. I pulled the trigger.

Bang.

The deafening gunshot echoed through the mansion. The first guard went down with a heavy thud, clutching his shattered kneecap. The second guard froze in absolute shock.

Arthur reached out, his bloody hand grabbing my ankle. "You are dead!" he hissed.

I aimed the gun downward. Bang.

I shot Arthur directly in the thigh. He collapsed against the floor, howling in pure, unadulterated agony.

"Mommy?"

The tiny, terrified voice froze the blood in my veins.

I snapped my head toward the doorway. Lily stood there in her pink pajamas, clutching her stuffed bunny. Her violet eyes were wide with absolute horror. She stared at the shattered glass.

"Daddy!" Lily screamed. Tears spilled down her pale cheeks. She tried to run toward him, but she was frozen in fear.

I looked at the second bodyguard, who was slowly raising his weapon again. I looked at Arthur, who was reaching for his phone to call his private security army.

I had no money. I had no powerful family. I had absolutely no leverage against a billionaire who owned the police.

Except for her.

She was Serena’s biological child, but I had raised her. I had loved her for six years. I was not going to leave her with a murderer, and I needed a shield to get out of this house alive.

"Come here, Lily," I ordered, my voice cracking.

I grabbed her small arm. She fought me instantly.

"No! Let me go!" Lily shrieked, kicking my shins with her bare feet. She thrashed wildly, trying to pull away from me. "I want Daddy! You hurt him! You are a bad mommy!"

Her words shattered what was left of my heart, but I didn't let go. I scooped her thrashing body into my arms, pressing her face into my shoulder so she wouldn't see any more blood. I kept the gun aimed at the remaining bodyguard.

"Step back," I warned him. "Or I swear to God, I will shoot you too."

He raised his hands and stepped aside.

I turned my back on the man I had married. I carried a screaming, fighting child out the heavy front doors.

The freezing rain hit us instantly. It was a torrential, blinding downpour. The storm raged across the city, swallowing the night in absolute darkness.

I shoved a sobbing Lily into the backseat of my SUV and locked the childproof doors. I climbed into the driver's seat and slammed my foot on the gas.

The heavy tires screeched against the wet asphalt. I tore down the long, winding driveway, smashing the front bumper directly through the heavy iron security gates.

I drove blindly into the storm.

The windshield wipers fought a losing battle against the rain. My hands shook violently against the leather steering wheel, smearing Arthur's blood across the dashboard.

In the backseat, Lily wept uncontrollably, terrified of the woman she called mother.

I had absolutely nothing. My marriage was a calculated, terrifying lie. My home was a slaughterhouse. I was completely stripped down to nothing but the clothes on my back and a stolen gun.

I drove for hours. I didn't know where I was going. The glittering city lights faded into dark, empty highways. The silence in the car was suffocating, broken only by Lily's exhausted sniffles as she finally cried herself to sleep.

Suddenly, the sharp ringing of my cell phone shattered the quiet.

It vibrated in the cup holder. I glanced at the glowing screen. It was an unknown number.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Was it Arthur? Was it the police?

I hit the speaker button. "Hello?" I breathed.

"Zoe Sterling," a deep, unfamiliar voice echoed through the car speakers. The voice was calm, calculated, and entirely foreign.

"Who is this?" I demanded, my grip tightening on the steering wheel.

"Someone who knows exactly what Arthur did to you six years ago," the stranger replied smoothly. "Someone who knows about the surgical logs. And someone who knows you are currently driving nowhere with a child that doesn't belong to you."

The air vanished from my lungs. "What do you want?"

The stranger let out a low, dark chuckle. "I just sent a set of coordinates to your phone. Drive there immediately."

"Why would I do that?" I choked out.

The line went silent for a fraction of a second. When the stranger spoke again, his words tilted my entire world on its axis.

"Because, Zoe... don't you want to see your biological daughter?"