LOGINIsraelite's POVI did not sleep after Torres sent me the photos of Lily. Instead, I sat in my home office and made calls to people who specialized in finding ghosts. The kind of professionals who operated in gray areas between legal and necessary. By three in the morning, I had assembled a team of five. Former intelligence operatives. Cybersecurity experts. People who owed me favors and understood the urgency."I need everything on Catherine Blackwell's remaining associates," I told them during our conference call. "Financial transactions. Travel records. Known safe houses. Dark web communications. Anything that connects to threats against Amelia Sterling or her daughter. You have forty eight hours."My lead investigator was a woman named Kara Chen. A former NSA analyst who had left government work after becoming disillusioned with bureaucratic limitations. She got results faster than anyone I knew and did
Maxwell's POVThe photos of Lily hit me like a physical blow. Torres had sent them within minutes of receiving the second email and I stared at my phone screen feeling something primal rise in my chest. My daughter. Walking through her school gates. Standing in the playground. Completely unaware that someone had been watching her close enough to capture timestamps and angles that suggested professional surveillance.I called my head of security before I even finished looking at all three images."Marcus. I need a team at Lily's school immediately. Former Secret Service if possible. Armed. Discrete but thorough. No one gets within fifty feet of my daughter without going through them first.""What is the threat level?""Credible and immediate. I will send you the details. Just get people there now."Marcus had worked for me for
Agent Torres's POVThe threatening email landed on my desk at six in the morning. Israelite had forwarded it with a single line of text."She got this last night. Tell me it's nothing."I read the message three times and my jaw tightened. Congratulations on Paris. Pity you will not make it there. Catherine's organization has not forgotten. The words were deliberate and precise. Not the rambling of some internet troll. This was a promise.Catherine Blackwell sat in a maximum security prison two states away. Her trial had been swift and brutal. Trafficking. Kidnapping. Conspiracy. The judge threw every charge at her that would stick. She would die behind bars and everyone knew it. But her organization had been vast. International. The kind of operation that did not collapse just because its leader got arrested.I pulled up the case files and starte
Amelia's POVI called Richard Beaumont at eight in the morning. My hands shook as I held the phone but my voice came out steady and clear."I accept the position."There was a pause. Then Richard's warm laughter filled the line. "Outstanding, Amelia. Truly outstanding. We will begin the transition process immediately. You will have three months to prepare before your official start date. Welcome to the next chapter of your career."I hung up and sat in my kitchen staring at nothing. The decision was made. Final. No taking it back. Terror and excitement warred in my chest until I could not tell which emotion was stronger. This was my moment. Building a career on my own terms in one of the fashion capitals of the world. Everything I had survived led to this.Lily bounced into the kitchen already dressed for school. "Did you call them?"
Amelia's POVLily sat at the kitchen table coloring a picture of a butterfly. Her tongue stuck out slightly in concentration the way it always did when she focused on details. I watched her for a long moment and tried to find the words to explain something I barely understood myself. How do you tell a seven year old that her mother might uproot their entire life for a career opportunity?"Lily, baby, can we talk about something?"She looked up. Set down her purple crayon. "Are you okay? You look worried.""I am fine. I just need to tell you about something important." I sat down across from her. "My boss offered me a new job. A really big one. But it would mean moving to Paris for two years.""Paris? Like in France?""Yes. Exactly like in France."Lily's eyes went wide. "Do they have the Eiffel Tower there?""They do. And amazing art museums and beautiful parks and the best pastries you have ever tasted.""Would I go to school there?""You would. A new school with new friends. But you
Amelia's POVI stood in the Lumière showroom and looked at the spring collection displayed on custom mannequins. Twelve months ago I was in Switzerland finishing cancer treatment and wondering if I would live to see another season. Now my designs hung in one of the most prestigious fashion houses in the city and critics were calling the collection my best work yet.The irony was not lost on me."It is beautiful," Eleanor said beside me. "Truly, Amelia. You have outdone yourself.""Thank you." I touched the fabric of a silk evening gown. Felt the texture under my fingers and remembered sketching this design during a sleepless night six months ago. "I still cannot believe people actually want to wear my creations.""Stop that. You are talented and you know it. Own your success for once."She was right. A year ago I would have deflected comp







