I THOUGHT I WAS THE ASSET—UNTIL I BECAME THEIR EXECUTIONER

Lily let out a terrified whimper. Hayes pushed her further behind his legs, his body rigid.

“Put the gun away, Julian,” I said, my voice eerily calm. “You brought a weapon to steal from a woman you swore to love. How pathetic are you?”

Julian flinched, the insult landing right on his fragile ego. “Shut up. Kick the box over here.”

“Or what?” I asked, standing up. I held the steel box against my chest. “You’ll shoot me? Go ahead. But if I don’t hand these deeds over to the bank myself, your mother’s debt defaults tomorrow. You kill me, you destroy your own empire.”

Julian’s jaw worked furiously. He knew I was right.

“Give me the box, Elena. It’s over.”

“You’re right,” I said. “It is.”

I looked at Hayes. We didn’t need words.

I hurled the heavy steel box directly at the face of the man on Julian’s right. At the exact same second, Hayes lunged, kicking a rusted iron planter directly into Julian’s knees.

The gun fired, the bullet shattering the glass roof above us.

I grabbed Lily’s hand. “Run!”

We scrambled through the back of the greenhouse, tearing through the ivy. The woods were dark, but I knew every root, every dip in the earth. I guided Hayes and Lily through the thickest part of the brambles, thorns tearing at my sweater.

We heard shouting behind us, but the men didn’t know the terrain.

We reached the truck. Hayes threw Lily into the cab and jumped into the driver’s seat. I dove into the passenger side just as Julian emerged from the tree line.

He raised his gun, but Hayes slammed the truck in reverse, kicking up a massive cloud of mud and gravel that blinded them. We spun out onto the county road and sped into the dawn.

My lungs burned. My hands were bleeding.

But I started to laugh.

Hayes looked at me like I had lost my mind. “Elena? Are you in shock?”

“No,” I gasped, holding up my left hand.

When I threw the box, I hadn’t thrown everything. Tucked inside my sweater, pressed against my ribs, was the thick, wax-sealed master deed.

I had thrown an empty steel box filled with my mother’s heavy gardening catalogs.

Hayes let out a breathless, booming laugh.

Lily peeked up from the back seat. “You tricked the bad man.”

“I did, sweetie,” I said, looking at the master deed.

But the victory was short-lived.

My smile faded as I looked closely at the wax seal. It wasn’t a Sterling seal. It was the crest of Charles Whitcomb’s law firm.

I broke the seal and unfolded the heavy parchment.