It was midnight. The Stone Estate was silent.
Jedidiah sat in his study, the glow of the monitors illuminating his face. He was looking at the list of guests from the gala again.
He scrolled down.
Julian Kensington.
Julian hadn't attended. But his car-a distinct silver Maybach-had been logged by security cameras two blocks away at 11:00 PM.
The exact time the intruder entered the estate.
Jedidiah leaned back. The pieces were starting to fit, but the picture they formed was ugly.
What if the woman was a plant sent by Julian? What if the "mute" fiancée was just a way to legitimize her presence in their social circle?
But Evita... she seemed so pathetic. So broken.
Unless that was the point. The perfect disguise.
Meanwhile, at Kensington Manor, Evita was under the covers of a guest bed. She held a small device in her hand-a bug detector.
The red light was blinking furiously.
Four cameras. Two audio bugs. Julian was watching her every move.
She had poured the glass of warm milk he offered her down the toilet. She didn't trust him. Not for a second.
She pulled out her encrypted phone.
Evita: I'm in. But he's watching me.
Harper: Be careful. I found a link between Julian and the Beirut bombing. A money transfer to a shell company in Lebanon two days before the explosion.
Evita's blood ran cold. Julian tried to kill Jedidiah. And now she was sleeping in his house.
Back at the Stone Estate, Jedidiah made a decision.
He picked up the phone. "Quentin. Get the legal team up. Now."
"Sir? It's midnight."
"I don't care. Draft a letter to the Peck family."
Jedidiah stared at the photo of Evita on his screen.
"Pull up the file on the Stone-Peck joint media venture from the nineties," Jedidiah said. "I want to invoke Section Four, Sub-clause B. The Hostile Asset Acquisition clause."
Quentin gasped on the other end of the line. "The marriage protocol? Sir, that's a poison pill designed to prevent a takeover. It gives the Stone family the right to absorb any 'key family asset'-including a direct heir-if the Peck family enters a strategic alliance with a direct competitor. An engagement to a Kensington qualifies."
"Exactly," Jedidiah said. His voice was ice. "Julian thinks he can steal from me? He thinks he can plant a spy in my bed and then parade her around as his wife?"
"But sir, the penalty for them refusing is that we get a controlling interest in their network. They'll fight it."
"Let them fight. But first, they'll get the offer," Jedidiah said. "If she's a spy, I want her where I can see her. In my house. In my bed. Under my control."
He looked at his legs. The legs Julian had taken from him.
"Send the letter," Jedidiah commanded. "Evita Peck is marrying me."
Evita lay in the dark at Kensington Manor, shivering. She felt a sudden, overwhelming sense of dread. The net was tightening. She had escaped the wolf only to run to the tiger, and now... the wolf was coming to drag her back.
