This was a disaster.I dialed my contact’s number.“Yes?” said a man’s voice.“They found the limo.” I could barely contain my anger. From the sound of my voice, a stranger might have thought I was merely annoyed – but anyone who had dealings with me would know their life was on the line.The man sounded stunned. “Shit. My men told me they made sure it would never be found.”“They were stupendously wrong.”“Miranda… look… I’ll eat the cost on this. I’m sure it was an honest mistake – ”“We’ll decide the appropriate actions to take later. I don’t have time to deal with your men’s incompetence right now.”The voice turned pleading. “Miranda, these are good guys – except for this one wrinkle, they did an A+ job. Don’t make me – ”“LATER. Activate the contingency plan.”Stunned silence. Then – “Are you kidding me? You really want to go through with that?”“It’s why we developed it in the first place.”“It’s going to look highly suspicious, doing it the first day he’s in Rikers.”“Your me

There were two bedrooms in the cabin. One had been turned into a makeshift office, with a laptop and printer.Koffitz brought up a document on his laptop and printed out a copy. “The only problem, of course, was that he didn’t get to sign the papers. So it’s worthless in court. BUT… he fully intended to sign it the following day.”I looked through the papers. I didn’t understand some of the legalese, but even to me it seemed clear that Mrs. Templeton and Vincent split every physical asset and bank account, but Connor got control over the company itself.“This makes no sense,” I said. “Mr. Templeton had dinner with us once. That was it. He wasn’t going to sign over everything he’d worked decades for just because of that one dinner. Even if he was trying to mend the relationship, he wouldn’t have done that.”“You’re thinking Augustus wouldn’t have given Connor control because of whatever bad blood existed between them. But the truth was, he immensely respected Connor. Connor was the one

Our car sped away from Sylvan Beach through the tree-lined country roads of upstate New York. Johnny drove, and I sat next to him in the front seat.“So how much of that did you hear?” I asked Eve over the phone.All of it.“Do you think you can find anything on Miranda?”Already on it. By the way, Bert’s about to call.“What?” I asked, and then suddenly the phone rang.I checked the screen: it was Bert.“Weird,” I muttered, and answered the call. “Hey Bert.”“Anything turn up with your field trip?”“Yeah, a lot – but Eve probably doesn’t want me discussing it over the phone.”There was a ping! in my ear, and I held it out to see a text message from Eve:Definitely NOT. Do it in person.“Do you have to listen in on my phone calls, too?” I asked, annoyed.Yes, came the immediate text.“What?” Bert asked.“Nevermind. Just thinking out loud.”“If you can’t tell me the details, then tell me this: good news or bad news?” Bert asked.“Good news, but not the smoking gun we were hoping for. W

“I cannot fucking believe I am going to fucking Tanzania,” Sebastian groused.It was almost midnight as we stood on the tarmac at the airport. Two private jets owned by Connor were fueled and on the runway. Johnny stood there with an overnight bag; Sebastian had a decidedly larger one.“There’s no fashion show in Tanzania, Sebastian,” I teased him.“Do not say a thing to me,” he sniffed, then muttered to himself, “I could be going to Venice…”“Be careful, okay guys?”“We’ll be fine,” Johnny said.A head popped out of the open door of the Africa-bound plane: Stan, one of Connor’s four bodyguards. “You ready to go, Sebastian?”“I’ll be right there,” Sebastian called, then turned back to me. “Do NOT do anything stupid while we’re gone, Lily. I mean it. Johnny and I are doing this as part of a deal. Your end of the deal is that you’re going to lay low and be there for Connor and not do anything crazy.”“I know, I know,” I muttered.“Do I have your word?”“I already told you yes!”“I want

I sat there in stunned horror.Miranda’s involved in sex trafficking, Connor. She’s shipping slaves across the globe, and she’s using your family’s planes to do it.It made sense now.Why would my father sign away his entire empire to me?Because his daughter-in-law – the one who would be the power behind the throne, the one who would manipulate my mother and brother – was evil beyond reckoning.A multi-millionaire, someone richer than 0.01% of all humanity, was trafficking in human misery, just to make a few dollars more.I wanted to vomit.I wanted to scream.But I couldn’t.I had to stay clear-headed.I had to act.I reached in my pocket for my phone and turned it on.As soon as it booted up, hundreds of texts and voicemails showed up. Friends, maybe? Reporters?Within seconds, a new message appeared:Eve.I hit the button for the text app.Connor – thank God.I started to tap out a response, but Johnny said, “Just talk to her. She can hear you.”I looked at him, startled, then spo