Chapter 3

The parents applauded.

Vera had just admitted to letting a child hurt my daughter, and they were applauding her.

“Finally, a teacher with standards.”

“This is a private academy. We pay to keep our children away from families like hers.”

One woman glanced toward the side entrance, where Effie waited with my driver.

“Why bother educating that girl? Her mother's already shown her how to make a living.”

A few people laughed.

“Maybe she'll find someone even richer.”

I memorized the woman's face.

Beside her, Jolene looked delighted.

“You hear that?” she asked me. “Everyone knows exactly what you are.”

Behind us, someone was still filming. Another person called out for me to leave. The crowd had grown thick enough to block most of the sidewalk, and every fresh insult seemed to give someone else permission to join in.

Jolene let them continue.

Then Vera leaned toward her, lowering her voice just enough to suggest discretion.

“Mrs. Simmons, the principal asked me to mention something.”

Jolene turned.

“The school has been hoping to expand. Unfortunately, Goldcrest controls the surrounding properties.”

“Does it?”

“Yes. If you're satisfied with how we've handled this unfortunate situation, perhaps you could speak to your husband.”

I stared at her.

There it was.

My daughter's safety had been weighed against a real estate deal.

Jolene folded her arms.

“You've handled it beautifully. I'll talk to Zachary tonight.”

Vera clasped her hands together.

“That would mean so much to us.”

“Oh, don't worry. He won't refuse me over a few parcels of land.”

Those properties were held through a company my grandfather had established. Goldcrest managed the leases. Zachary couldn't authorize a rent reduction without approval, much less give the land away.

But Vera was already thanking her.

The parents moved closer.

“My husband supplied materials for one of Goldcrest's developments. We'd love to work together again.”

“Our company is expanding into commercial security. Perhaps Mr. Simmons would consider a proposal?”

A woman opened her handbag and produced a black card.

“This is for our department store. No limit. Please, consider it a gift.”

Someone else slipped an envelope into Jolene's bag.

Then another.

They'd stopped pretending they were there on principle.

Jolene accepted everything with a gracious smile, promising introductions, contracts, access to a man whose office furniture I had paid for.

I watched her sell influence she didn't possess.

Eventually, she turned back to me.

“Now do you understand?”

She approached slowly, enjoying the way people stepped aside for her.

“This is what being his wife means. Respect. Connections. A future.”

Her gaze traveled over me.

“All you have is whatever he gives you when he's finished with you.”

I said nothing.

She mistook it for defeat.

“You have until tomorrow to leave the city. Take your daughter and disappear.”

Then she leaned closer.

“If you go near my husband again, I'll have that little girl buried alive.”

I looked directly at her.

“Say that again.”

She smiled.

“You heard me.”

“Mommy!”

Effie's cry came from the side entrance.

I turned.

My driver was coming toward us with her in his arms. Her face was crumpled with pain.

“Her foot,” he said. “She won't let me touch it. The doctor is two streets away.”

I reached for her.

Effie clung to my neck, trembling so hard I could feel it through my clothes.

“It hurts, Mommy.”

“I know, sweetheart. I've got you.”

“My shoe. Please take it off.”

I lowered myself onto the edge of the planter and settled her across my lap. My driver crouched beside us, shielding her from the nearest phones.

I eased the little leather boot off her foot.

One of her toes was missing.

For a moment, I couldn't understand what I was seeing.

Then I saw how much blood the boot had concealed.

“Call an ambulance,” I told my driver.

My voice sounded distant.

“Now.”

He was already dialing.

I held Effie's foot as carefully as I could while he passed me a clean handkerchief. She gave a small, exhausted sob and buried her face against my shoulder.

All afternoon, she'd been trying to be good.

She'd let me carry her, buckle her into the car, bring her back to the place she feared. She'd endured this because someone had frightened her badly enough to make silence seem safer than asking for help.

Tears fell onto her cardigan.

“I'm sorry, baby.”

I looked up at Jolene.

“Did your son do this?”

She glanced at Effie's foot, then looked away.

There was no surprise on her face.

“Don't be so dramatic.”

I stood, passing Effie carefully into my driver's arms.

Jolene sighed.

“She's alive, isn't she? You should be grateful I didn't tell him to finish the job.”

I slapped her before she'd finished speaking.

The force drove her sideways. She stumbled into one of the mothers, a hand flying to her cheek.

For the first time since I'd arrived, she looked afraid.

I took a step toward her.

Someone grabbed my hair.

My head snapped back. Another woman caught my arm, twisting it behind me.

“You don't touch Mrs. Simmons!”

I tried to pull free.

A blow struck my shoulder. Then another hit my back.

My driver moved toward me with Effie still in his arms.

“Get away from her.”

Two men from the crowd blocked him.

“Stay out of it.”

“She's being assaulted.”

“Put the kid down, then. Let's see how brave you are.”

I caught his eye through the moving bodies.

“Keep her safe!”

A hand shoved between my shoulder blades.

My knees struck the pavement.

They were all talking at once.

“You should have thought of this before sleeping with her husband.”

“Your daughter's still alive. What are you making such a fuss about?”

“Both of you need to learn your place.”

I tried to brace myself, but someone kicked my arm out from under me.

Then Vera stepped forward.

I recognized her shoes before the kick landed against my ribs.

Pain stole my breath.

“Stop!” Effie screamed. “Don't hurt my mommy!”

My driver tried to keep her against his chest, but she twisted desperately toward me. Someone shoved him from behind. As he caught his balance, she slipped down and scrambled the last few feet to my side.

I reached for her.

“Effie, stay back.”

She put her small hands on my shoulder, trying to cover me with her body.

A boy stepped out from behind Jolene.

Murray.

He kicked Effie in the chest.

She fell beside me.

For an instant, she made no sound at all.

I dragged myself toward her, ignoring the hands pulling at my clothes.

“Effie.”

My driver forced his way past the men and dropped to his knees on her other side.

She drew a breath.

Then she cried.

I had never been so grateful to hear her cry.

A few feet away, Vera laid a hand on Murray's head.

“Well done, sweetheart.”

I looked up.

She was smiling at him.

“Such a strong sense of right and wrong. We'll make sure everyone hears about this at assembly tomorrow.”

Murray grinned.

“Do I get an award?”

“Of course.”

He looked down at my daughter.

“I'll do it again if she comes back.”

I tried to stand.

Three women pushed me down.

One knelt against my arm. Another held my shoulder against the pavement while my driver gathered Effie close, protecting her head with his hand.

My whole body shook.

I looked from Vera to Jolene, then at the parents holding me down.

“You're going to regret this.”

There was a moment of silence.

Then Jolene laughed.

The others followed.

“Is that a threat?”

“Listen to her. Still pretending she matters.”

“Mrs. Simmons could make one phone call and have you thrown out of this city.”

Someone crouched beside me.

“You haven't got anyone coming, have you?”

I could smell his cologne.

“That's why you're still lying here.”

A woman spat near my face. Another told me to stop struggling and apologize.

I turned my head toward Effie.

My driver had her wrapped in his jacket. He was speaking to her quietly, telling her to look at him, telling her help was close.

I held on to the sound of his voice.

Jolene stepped into my line of sight.

The laughter quieted.

She placed the narrow heel of her shoe against my cheek.

I went still.

“Regret?” she said.

She pressed down, forcing my face toward the pavement.

“I've never regretted anything in my life.”

Above her, phones remained raised. Behind her, Vera stood with Murray's hand tucked into hers.

Jolene bent slightly, making certain I could hear.

“Go on, then. Tell me how you're going to make me pay.”

Engines roared at the end of the street.

Her smile faltered.

A line of black luxury cars swept around the corner and braked outside the school. The first stopped so sharply that the people standing in the road jumped back.

Doors opened along the convoy.

Men in tailored suits stepped out.

I recognized my father's consigliere before anyone spoke. He took one look at Effie in the driver's arms, then at Jolene's shoe against my face.

His expression changed.

Behind him, the family's soldiers broke into a run.