Chapter 1 - THE MAN I BROUGHT TO CHRISTMAS
Matthias followed my eyes toward the front entrance.
His face changed before the doors even opened.
Maybe because he finally understood I had not spent the last three weeks crying in bathrooms and waiting for him to confess.
I had been working.
The doors opened.
And Adrian Cole stepped inside.
Fifty-one.
Former federal prosecutor.
Now one of the most aggressive corporate-crime attorneys on the East Coast.
He wore a black overcoat dusted with snow and carried the same slim leather case I had seen in his office that morning.
Matthias went pale.
“You brought Cole?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Adrian crossed the marble floor toward us.
Several guests noticed him.
Then more.
Whispers spread.
His reputation did that.
Fiona stopped smiling.
That mattered.
Adrian reached us.
“Mrs. Dre.”
“Mr. Cole.”
Matthias looked between us.
“What is this?”
Adrian answered calmly.
“Your wife received a credible threat connected to this property.”
The room around Matthias seemed to disappear.
“What threat?”
I pulled the folded copy from my clutch.
He read the line.
Collateral losses within acceptable parameters.
His face emptied.
For the first time that night, the diamond necklace on Fiona's throat became irrelevant.
Matthias lowered his voice.
“Where did you get this?”
“Sent to Adrian's office.”
“Why his office?”
“Because I hired him.”
“You hired a federal-crime attorney without telling me?”
I looked at Fiona.
“You booked a hotel suite without telling me.”
He flinched.
Good.
Adrian continued.
“The original document includes a property diagram, timing references, and internal corporate terminology connected to the Hensley acquisition.”
Matthias stared.
“That is impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because Hensley isn't public yet.”
The room went cold inside me.
“What do you mean not public?”
Only senior executives knew the acquisition target.
Yet whoever sent the threat knew.
Meaning the danger came from inside Matthias's company.
Then Adrian looked toward the enormous Christmas tree.
“Serena.”
His voice changed.
“Where is the west utility corridor?”
I pointed beyond the ballroom.
“Behind the library.”
“Why?”
He showed us the property diagram.
A hand-drawn circle marked that exact location.
Beside it:
18:40.
I looked at the grandfather clock.
6:31 p.m.
Nine minutes.
Adrian turned toward private security.
“No panic. Move everyone away from the west wing.”
Matthias grabbed his arm.
“You can't evacuate sixty investors because of a photocopy.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You can explain caution afterward.”
Then a security guard ran in.
“Mr. Dre.”
He was holding a small black device.
Found inside the utility corridor.
Wires.
Timer.
6:39.
One minute earlier than the note.
Matthias stared.
Fiona backed away.
And I suddenly understood something terrifying.
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The anonymous sender had not warned me about a possible plan.
They had warned me about a plan already in motion.
