Between You and the Bullet

Seen through the glass from fifty floors above Manhattan, the city at night hardly looked real.Countless lights glittered far below against the black, and even the streams of traffic moving through the streets seemed like veins of polished jewels.That evening, the top floor of a hotel owned by Sterling Group was hosting a charity gala organized by the family foundation.More than three hundred guests had been invited—leaders from finance, law, real estate, the arts, and politics. Nearly every name belonged to someone who had appeared at least once in the business pages or the society columns.Audrey Sterling stood at the center of it all.Her deep navy gown left her shoulders bare without looking ostentatious. The jewels at her throat were elegant rather than excessive. Even so, whenever she crossed the ballroom, heads turned almost without thought.The only daughter of the Sterling family.And the woman widely expected to inherit one of the country’s most powerful business empires.

Nathan asked surprisingly little of Audrey before they left.Her usual sedan disappeared from the morning plan. The front entrance was no longer being used. Two members of the household security team were reassigned, and a second vehicle would leave several minutes before hers.None of those decisions were presented to Audrey one by one.By the time she returned upstairs, changed into a cream blouse and dark tailored trousers, and gathered the documents for the board meeting, the arrangements had already been made around her. Staff moved with greater purpose than usual, but no one crowded her with explanations. Nathan had apparently decided that protecting her did not require making her participate in every conversation about how it would be done.She found that unexpectedly tolerable.At nine ten, Claire Bennett met her outside the study with a tablet in one hand and concern she was trying unsuccessfully to hide.Claire had worked with Audrey long enough to know better than to ask wh

Julian Ashford arrived at Sterling Group headquarters a little after one in the afternoon.Audrey had called him almost immediately after the board meeting ended.She wanted him to hear two things from her before the formal request reached Ashford Global: Sterling would be asking for additional financial records, and she wanted the guarantee terms on their joint project reviewed.Julian had not sounded surprised.“I understand. I’m nearby anyway. Have you eaten?”When she admitted she had not, the conversation had ended there.Less than an hour later, he appeared in Audrey’s office carrying a paper bag from one of the restaurants she used regularly.“I assumed you’d forget to eat after the board meeting.”“I didn’t forget. I postponed it.”“In most civilized parts of the world, that still counts as forgetting.”Julian smiled as he set the bag on the table.He looked exactly as he had the night before.Calm voice. Immaculate clothes. The kind of effortless presence that never seemed to

It was after seven in the evening by the time they returned to the Sterling residence.The house looked exactly as it had that morning.The lights beside the entrance, the paintings lining the vast foyer, the staircase rising to the second floor—nothing had changed.What had changed was the number of people standing inside it.The west service gate had been closed. Additional surveillance equipment had been installed near the gardens. More security officers had been posted in places where they normally would have gone unnoticed, and Audrey counted three before she even reached the front door.When Nathan stepped out of the SUV, he did not immediately follow her inside.Instead, he stopped to speak briefly with the head of household security.Tonight’s positions. Shift changes. The latest perimeter checks.None of it was a conversation Audrey needed to be part of.So she kept walking.“Audrey.”Her mother’s voice came from beside the staircase.Eleanor Sterling had apparently just retu

The plan to return to the Sterling residence changed immediately.Audrey’s SUV never left the hospital’s underground parking structure. Instead, it was moved deeper into a secured service area.Nathan was not willing to assume the person who had taken the photograph had already left the building.They stopped in a windowless section near the loading bays, completely separated from the public areas of the hospital. Daniel went back inside alone.Audrey remained in the rear seat.Nathan stayed with her.The engine continued to run.The only sounds outside were the distant movement of metal shutters and the occasional tires of service vehicles passing through the garage.“We’re waiting here?”“Until we review the surveillance footage.”“How long?”“I don’t know.”As usual, he did not offer an answer simply because it would make her feel better.Audrey looked again at the