Chapter 1 - THE PROMISE HE MADE IN BLOOD
“What did you just do?”
Adeline’s voice shook harder than Elias’s injured shoulder.
The black SUV moved through the wet New Jersey streets while two security vehicles followed behind them. Elias sat perfectly still, his bandaged left shoulder resting against the leather seat.
“I kept you alive.”
“You announced that I’m going to marry you.”
“Yes.”
“And have your child.”
“Yes.”
Adeline stared at him.
“You don’t even know if I want children.”
For the first time that night, something almost amused crossed Elias Ferrante’s face.
“That part was for Vincent.”
“Why?”
“Because saying you were under my protection wouldn’t have been enough.”
She looked down at the enormous signet ring hanging loosely around her finger.
“So you lied.”
“I created a legal and political problem for anyone who wants you dead.”
“That sounds like a very elegant way of saying you lied.”
Elias looked out the window.
“Three hours ago, someone accessed the private shipping archive using your credentials.”
Adeline’s anger disappeared.
“What?”
“Seven restricted files were copied.”
“I didn’t access anything.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because you were standing beside me when the files were opened.”
She blinked.
“Then why did Vincent accuse me?”
“That is the question.”
Adeline remembered Vincent’s face in the ballroom.
Not angry.
Not shocked.
Certain.
As though he had been waiting for the opportunity.
“Who were those files about?”
Elias didn’t answer immediately.
“Elias.”
His gaze returned to hers.
“The Ferrante Foundation.”
“The charity?”
“Partly.”
Adeline knew the foundation funded hospitals, scholarships, and redevelopment programs throughout New Jersey and New York.
“What was in the files?”
“Twenty-three years of financial records.”
Her stomach tightened.
“And somebody wanted people to believe I stole them.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the person who actually took them needed a distraction.”
The SUV suddenly slowed.
Elias’s expression changed.
He touched the earpiece hidden beneath his collar.
“What happened?”
The driver answered from the front.
“Road blocked, boss.”
“Police?”
“No.”
Elias’s hand moved toward the pistol concealed beneath his jacket.
Adeline noticed.
“Elias?”
“Get down.”
“What?”
“Now.”
The first SUV ahead of them exploded.
Adeline screamed.
Flames erupted across the highway.
Their driver swerved.
Gunfire struck the side windows.
Elias grabbed Adeline, pulled her onto the floor, and covered her body with his own despite the wound in his shoulder.
“Stay down.”
Bullets hammered the reinforced glass.
The SUV accelerated backward.
A second vehicle appeared behind them.
Trapped.
Elias pulled his weapon.
“Marco, east shoulder. Now.”
The driver jerked the wheel.
The SUV crashed through a temporary barrier and descended onto a muddy service road.
Adeline held onto Elias.
His bandage had turned red again.
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’ve had worse evenings.”
“You were shot because of me.”
“No.”
His voice became cold.
“I was shot because someone expected me to let you die.”
The gunfire faded.
Their convoy disappeared beneath an overpass.
Elias finally sat up.
Adeline’s hands were covered in his blood.
She stared at them.
“Who is doing this?”
Elias took out his phone.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
He read it once.
Then his expression became completely still.
Adeline knew enough about him to understand that stillness meant something terrible.
“What does it say?”
Elias turned the screen toward her.
There were only two sentences.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THE GIRL DIE.
HER MOTHER MADE THE SAME MISTAKE TWENTY-FOUR YEARS AGO.
Adeline forgot how to breathe.
“My mother?”
Elias looked at her.
“You told me your mother died when you were five.”
“She did.”
“How?”
Adeline swallowed.
“A car accident.”
Elias stared at the message again.
May you like
“No,” he said quietly.
“I don’t think she did.”
