THE HEIRESS AND THE HIRED HELP

I stared at the boarding pass in Sarah’s trembling hand.

Emily Vance.

Vivienne hadn’t just planned to send Lily away. She had framed me for the kidnapping. The ten thousand dollars in my apron pocket wasn’t a bribe. It was the payout the police were supposed to find when they arrested me.

“Give me the pass,” I said, my voice eerily calm.

Sarah handed it to me, along with Lily’s silver bracelet. The metal was still warm.

“Sarah, you have to tell Dante the truth,” I said, pulling her to her feet.

“I can’t!” she sobbed, shrinking back. “You don’t understand. The man who took her… he knew exactly where my sister goes to school. He showed me a picture of her walking home. If I talk, they’ll kill her.”

“And if you don’t talk, they take a seven-year-old girl away forever.” I gripped her shoulders. “Where did he take Lily?”

“To the south gate. He said there was a gray sedan waiting.”

“How long ago?”

“Five minutes. Before I came into the dining room.”

I let her go. Five minutes. The estate was massive. It would take a car at least ten minutes to navigate the winding private roads from the service entrance to the main gates. And Dante had just ordered the gates locked.

They were still on the property.

I ran out of the pantry. I didn’t go back to the dining room. I went straight for the back hallway that led to the service exit.

As I rounded the corner, I collided hard with a solid chest.

It was Leo, Dante’s brother.

“Whoa, slow down,” Leo said, catching my arms. “Where’s the fire, Emily?”

“Let me go,” I panted, trying to push past him. “They have Lily. They’re taking her to the south gate.”

Leo didn’t let go. His grip tightened.

“The south gate?” he repeated. “Who told you that?”

“Sarah. Please, Leo, we have to tell Dante—”

“Dante is dealing with the police,” Leo said smoothly. “I’ll handle the south gate. You go back to the kitchen.”

I looked up at his face. Leo had always been the charming, irresponsible younger brother. But right now, his eyes were flat. Cold.

And then I saw it.

Draped over his left arm was a heavy, dark gray wool coat. The hem of the coat was stained with fresh mud. The exact same mud that was on the floor in the pantry.

“You,” I breathed.

It wasn’t a stranger Vivienne had hired. She was working with Dante’s own brother.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Leo said, his smile tight. “Go back to the kitchen, Emily.”

He reached out to grab my wrist, the same way Vivienne had done earlier.

But I didn’t shrink back this time. I brought my heel down on his polished leather shoe with all my strength.

Leo swore and stumbled backward, dropping the coat.

I sprinted down the hall. I heard him cursing behind me, but I didn’t stop. I pushed through the heavy metal service doors and burst out into the cool night air.

The gravel driveway was illuminated by floodlights.

There, idling near the stone wall of the south gate, was a gray sedan.

The gate was closed. Dante’s lockdown had worked. The car was trapped.

I ran toward the vehicle. The engine was running. The driver’s side window was tinted black, but I could see a silhouette behind the wheel.

“Lily!” I screamed, hitting the back window with my fists. “Lily!”

The back door suddenly swung open.

I jumped back.

But Lily didn’t come out.

Instead, a man in a black suit stepped out of the backseat. He wasn’t Leo. He was tall, heavily built, and completely unfamiliar.

He didn’t say a word. He just reached out, grabbed me by the collar of my uniform, and slammed me against the side of the car.

All the air rushed out of my lungs.

“You’re making a lot of noise for a waitress,” the man grunted.

He pulled a small syringe from his jacket pocket. The needle glinted under the floodlights.

“Vivienne said you might be a problem. Good thing she paid me extra to clean up her messes.”

He brought the needle toward my neck.

Suddenly, a loud, metallic CRACK shattered the night air.

The man groaned, his eyes rolling back into his head. He collapsed onto the gravel, dropping the syringe.

Standing behind him, holding a heavy silver serving platter like a baseball bat, was Ruth.

She looked down at the unconscious man, adjusting her single hearing aid.

“I told them I needed to polish the silver,” she said calmly. “Looks like it dented.”

I slumped against the car, gasping for air. “Ruth… thank God.”

I grabbed the door handle and yanked the backseat open.

It was empty.

Lily wasn’t in the car.

But on the leather seat lay a single piece of paper. It was a drawing done in crayon. A picture of a little girl locked in a tall tower, with a dark, shadowy monster standing outside the door.