Chapter 5 - THE SHATTERED GLASS
“He puts it in my milk.”
Lily’s voice wasn’t loud, but in the dead silence of the ballroom, it rang out like a gunshot.
Grace stood over Derek’s groaning body, her chest heaving, the borrowed shoe discarded on the marble. The syringe lay in the silver ice bucket, a damning piece of plastic and steel.
Ethan’s face was completely drained of color. He looked from the syringe, to Derek, to Lily, and finally to Sabrina.
“Ethan,” Sabrina said, her voice high and breathless. She stepped forward, her hands raised in a placating gesture. “Ethan, darling, don’t listen to this. The child is having a trauma episode. And Grace—Grace is unhinged! She was fired yesterday for stealing!”
Ethan didn’t look at his fiancée. He walked slowly toward the staircase and fell to his knees in front of his niece.
“Lily,” Ethan whispered, his voice trembling. “Is it true?”
Lily nodded, tears spilling hot and fast down her cheeks. She pointed a trembling finger at Sabrina. “She tells him how much. She says if I talk, I’ll go to sleep forever like Mommy and Daddy.”
A collective gasp echoed through the ballroom. Wealthy donors and socialites murmured in horror, stepping away from Sabrina as if she were carrying a plague.
“That’s a lie!” Sabrina shrieked, dropping her poised persona entirely. “Derek, get up!”
Derek scrambled to his feet, holding his bruised forearm. He lunged toward Grace, but Ethan was faster. The billionaire didn’t yell. He didn’t posture. He simply stepped between Derek and Grace, his fist connecting with Derek’s jaw with a sickening crack.
Derek hit the floor again, out cold.
“Nobody moves,” Ethan said, his voice a low, terrifying growl. He pulled his phone from his tuxedo pocket. “Call the police. Now.”
Within ten minutes, the flashing red and blue lights of Lake Forest police cruisers illuminated the stained-glass windows of the estate.
But Sabrina wasn’t finished.
As Detective Russo—a silver-haired man who had attended Sabrina’s father’s country club for decades—walked through the doors, Sabrina threw herself at him, weeping perfectly calculated tears.
“Frank! Thank God,” she sobbed. “This woman broke into our home and assaulted my brother! She’s a disgruntled maid trying to extort us!”
Russo looked at the chaos, then glared at Grace. He pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt. “Ma’am, put your hands behind your back.”
Grace froze. No. Not when I’m this close.
“Touch her, Frank, and I will personally bankrupt your precinct,” Ethan’s voice cut through the room like a blade. He walked up to the detective and shoved the folded hospital document against his chest. “Read the lab report. Then look in that ice bucket. They’ve been poisoning my niece.”
Russo unfolded the paper. His eyes widened.
Grace stepped forward, opening her fist. The gold chain of stars caught the chandelier light.
“And you might want to ask Derek why he had Meredith Caldwell’s jewelry in his safe,” Grace said loudly.
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Sabrina’s face went chalk-white. She took a step backward, her silver dress swishing against the floor.
The trap had snapped shut. But Grace knew Sabrina was a cornered animal, and cornered animals were the most dangerous.
