Chapter 12 - THE GALA TRAP
Dominic fired first.
Kane ducked behind the sedan.
Gunfire exploded.
Mara dragged Daniel behind concrete.
“Danny!”
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Not dead,” he gasped.
“Stay that way.”
“I’ll consider it.”
Dominic’s men arrived.
Kane escaped.
Again.
But something changed after that night.
Mara stopped trusting Dominic.
She still lived at Blackthorne because Caleb needed protection.
She still spoke to Dominic.
But every conversation had walls.
Three weeks later, Dominic found her packing.
“You’re leaving.”
“Yes.”
“Kane’s alive.”
“Not my problem.”
“He wants you.”
“That has been my problem for eight years.”
“Then stay until it’s over.”
Mara zipped the suitcase.
“You hid a little girl from her father.”
“To protect her.”
“You always have a reason.”
“Because reasons matter.”
“No. Results matter.”
She looked at him.
“And the result is I don’t trust you.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
Caleb appeared in the doorway.
“Are you leaving?”
Mara froze.
Not again.
She hated that question.
Caleb looked at the suitcase.
“You said you wouldn’t.”
“I never said forever.”
“You said you’d stay.”
“Caleb…”
“You’re lying.”
His eyes filled.
Mara knelt.
“This is not because of you.”
“Everybody leaves.”
The words crushed her.
His mother.
Nannies.
Staff.
Friends removed for security.
Now Mara.
Dominic looked away.
Mara hugged Caleb.
“I’m not disappearing.”
“Promise?”
She closed her eyes.
This time she made the mistake Dominic had avoided.
“I promise.”
That night, Daniel arrived with Lily.
Mara met her niece for the first time.
Lily had curly brown hair and Daniel’s stubborn eyes.
“You’re Aunt Anna?”
Mara smiled.
“Mara.”
Lily frowned.
“Daddy says Anna.”
“Daddy talks too much.”
Daniel looked offended.
“I almost died twice for you.”
“Still talking.”
For the first time in years, Mara laughed with her brother.
They had forty-eight peaceful hours.
Then Dominic received an invitation.
A charity gala at Blackthorne House.
Hosting two hundred of New York’s richest people.
Mara stared at him.
“You’re insane.”
“It’s already public.”
“Cancel it.”
“If I cancel, Kane knows we’re afraid.”
“We are afraid.”
Dominic looked at her.
“No. You are.”
She wanted to hit him a third time.
Instead she said, “Use the gala as bait.”
Daniel looked up.
Mara continued.
“Kane warned us he’d strike there.”
Dominic understood.
“So we let him.”
“We make him believe security is normal.”
Daniel smiled.
“You’re becoming scary.”
“Family trait.”
The plan was simple.
The real ledger would be hidden.
A fake copy would be placed in Dominic’s office.
Federal agents connected to one honest prosecutor would be outside.
Mercer security would control the inside.
Kane would come.
They would take him alive.
At least that was the plan.
The night of the gala, Mara wore a simple black dress and worked among the staff.
Caleb stayed near her.
“You look pretty.”
“Thank you.”
“Dad thinks so too.”
Mara nearly dropped a tray.
“What?”
Caleb pointed across the room.
Dominic was staring at her.
When caught, he looked away.
Mara smiled despite herself.
Then a waiter walked past.
Silver hair under a dark wig.
Scar above the eyebrow.
Mara’s smile vanished.
Kane.
She saw the gun.
“CALEB!”
The first bullet shattered the chandelier.
The second destroyed the roses.
Mara threw herself over the boy.
May you like
The third shot hit her.
Then darkness swallowed everything.
