The letter came three days after the gala. I found it slipped under my hotel room door when I got home from my shift at the dental office. Heavy paper. Sanders family letterhead. I sat on the edge of the bed and opened it with shaking hands.
Eleanor Morgan. Destruction of property. Han dynasty vase, authenticated 206 BCE. Estimated value: $180,000.
I read it twice. Then I called my mother.
'Mom,' I said when she picked up. 'Did you go to the Sanders estate? Any time in the last few months?'
'The Sanders estate?' Her voice was confused. 'Honey, I don't even know where that is. Why?'
I closed my eyes. 'They're saying you broke something. An antique vase. They're threatening criminal charges.'
Silence on the other end. Then, quietly: 'I've never been there, Holly. I swear.'
'I know,' I said. My voice came out flat. 'I know you haven't.'
The attorney called the next morning. His voice was smooth, professional. 'Ms. Morgan, we can resolve this matter privately. Your mother is elderly. A criminal trial would be… difficult for her. We're prepared to offer an alternative arrangement.'
'What arrangement?'
'Katalina's brother requires a live-in caretaker. Personal assistance. Supervised care. Six months of service would satisfy the debt in full.'
I gripped the phone. 'What's wrong with him?'
'He requires supervision,' the attorney said. Nothing more.
I thought about my mother. Seventy-two years old. A retired schoolteacher who'd never broken anything more valuable than a dinner plate. I thought about police showing up at her door. A courtroom. Her name in the papers.
'I'll do it,' I said.
The Sanders townhouse sat on East 73rd Street, five stories of limestone and iron gates. A housekeeper let me in without a word and led me to a third-floor bedroom. Small. Clean. A window overlooking the street. She set my bag inside and closed the door behind her.
I met Kye that evening. He was twenty-six, tall, with the same sharp features as his sister. He looked me over slowly when I entered the sitting room.
'You're the caretaker,' he said.
'Yes.'
He smiled. 'You're prettier than the last one.'
I didn't respond. I asked about his care routine. Medications. Appointments. Dietary restrictions. He waved a hand dismissively.
'I don't need a nurse,' he said. 'I just need company.'
The first week, I kept my distance. I prepared his meals. I sat in the room while he watched television. I followed the schedule the housekeeper had left. But there was no medical equipment. No prescriptions. No doctors' visits. Just Kye, watching me with that same slow smile.
The second week, he started appearing in places he shouldn't be. The kitchen at midnight when I came down for water. The hallway outside my room at dawn. He'd lean against the wall and ask where I was going. What I was doing. If I was lonely.
I started locking my door at night.
The third week, I woke to the sound of my doorknob turning. I sat up in the dark, heart pounding. The door swung open. Kye stood silhouetted in the hallway light.
'Get out,' I said.
He stepped inside. Closed the door behind him.
'You don't give me orders,' he said softly.
I reached for my phone on the nightstand. He crossed the room in two strides and knocked it from my hand. It skittered under the bed.
'Kye.' My voice shook. 'Leave. Now.'
He sat on the edge of my bed. 'You're here because of me. You work for me. You should be nicer.'
I stood, backing toward the window. He stood too, blocking the door.
'Your mother's debt,' he said, moving closer. 'It could get worse. Much worse. Or it could go away completely. Depends on you.'
He reached for my wrist.
I grabbed the bedside lamp and swung it with everything I had.
The base connected with his temple. The sound was terrible—dull, wet. He dropped like a puppet with cut strings, hitting the floor hard. Blood seeped from his hairline onto the rug.
I stood frozen, lamp still in my hand, watching his chest rise and fall. Alive. Unconscious.
I dropped the lamp. Grabbed my bag from the closet. Threw in clothes, my wallet, my phone from under the bed. My hands wouldn't stop shaking. I stepped over Kye's body, locked the door from the outside with the key the housekeeper had given me, and ran.
Down three flights of stairs. Out the service entrance. Into the street.
I ran six blocks before I flagged a cab. Gave the driver my mother's address in Queens. Sat in the backseat with my bag clutched to my chest, watching the city blur past the window.
I didn't know that the bedroom had cameras.
I didn't know Katalina was already editing the footage.
I didn't know that by morning, Lucian would see a version of that night where I was the one who'd entered Kye's room. Where I'd smiled. Where I'd touched him first.
I didn't know that everything I'd just survived was about to be used to destroy me.
Not yet.
