The blood came warm and fast, trickling down my temple into my eye. I blinked it away, my vision swimming with red. The shattered glass glittered around me like stars, each shard catching the overhead lights.
Rhett stood frozen, his hand still raised, his chest heaving. The rage drained from his face, replaced by something closer to panic.
"Quinn, I—"
I lifted my arm. Pointed to the corner of the room where the smoke detector sat mounted on the ceiling. Except it wasn't a smoke detector.
"Camera," I said. My voice came out steady despite the copper taste in my mouth. "Motion-activated. Been recording since you walked in."
The color left his face entirely.
The door burst open. Caspian entered first, two security guards flanking him. His eyes found me on the floor, the blood, the glass, and something dangerous flickered across his expression before he locked it down.
"Mr. Alexander," he said, his voice carrying the weight of courtrooms and depositions. "I think you should stay exactly where you are."
Rhett's hands came up, palms out. "This isn't—she fell. It was an accident."
"The camera says otherwise." Caspian moved to me, crouched down. His fingers were gentle as they assessed the cut on my forehead. "Can you stand?"
I nodded. Let him help me up. My legs held.
One of the security guards was already on his phone. "NYPD is three minutes out."
Rhett's phone buzzed again. He pulled it out with shaking hands, stared at the screen. Whatever he saw there made him sway. "The stock—it's in free fall. We're down sixty percent."
"Seventy," I corrected. "By the time trading closes, you'll be lucky to hit single digits."
His eyes met mine. For the first time in eight years, I saw him clearly—not the visionary, not the CEO, just a small man who'd built his castle on stolen ground.
"You destroyed me," he whispered.
"No." I stepped past him toward the door. "You destroyed yourself. I just made sure everyone could see it."
I didn't look back.
---
The hotel lobby was chaos. Investors clustered in tight groups, their voices sharp with panic. Reporters had materialized from nowhere, cameras and microphones turning the marble space into a feeding frenzy. I kept my head down, the cut on my forehead hidden behind my hair, and made for the side exit.
"Quinn."
Kimber's voice cut through the noise. She stood by the bar, a martini glass clutched in both hands. Her makeup was still perfect, but her eyes had that glassy shine of someone three drinks past steady.
I changed direction. Walked straight to her.
"I need to talk to you," she said. Her words ran together at the edges.
"I don't have anything to say to you."
"Please." She grabbed my wrist. Her fingers were cold. "I didn't know. About the code, about what he did to you. I swear I didn't know."
"But you knew other things." I pulled my wrist free. "You knew about the trust fund stipulation. About the fake marriage. You knew, and you didn't care."
Her face crumpled. "I thought—I thought I was winning. That I'd finally gotten everything I was supposed to have." She laughed, bitter and sharp. "Turns out I'm just the next placeholder."
"That's not my problem."
I turned to leave. Her voice stopped me.
"I know about the payments."
I went still.
"Monthly transfers," she continued. "To some state facility upstate. I saw them in his private accounts. When I asked, he said it was nothing. A tax shelter." She drained her martini. "But it's not, is it?"
I turned back slowly. "What facility?"
"I don't—" She fumbled with her phone, nearly dropped it. "I took a photo. In case I needed leverage later." Her laugh was hollow. "Guess later came sooner than I thought."
She held out the phone. I took it, my hands suddenly unsteady.
Green Valley Children's Home. Ulster County, New York. Monthly payment: $2,400.
The lobby tilted. I grabbed the bar to stay upright.
"Quinn?" Kimber's voice came from far away. "Are you—"
"What else did he tell you?" The words scraped out of my throat. "About the payments. What else?"
She blinked, confused. Then something shifted in her expression. Understanding. Horror.
"Oh God." She pressed her hand to her mouth. "He said—he told me once, when he was drunk. He said he had insurance. That if Westyn didn't work out, if the boy turned out wrong, he had a backup plan." Her eyes filled with tears. "He said he'd kept the girl. Just in case."
The floor disappeared beneath me.
"The girl," I repeated. My voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. "My daughter."
"He told me she was stillborn. That's what he told everyone."
"She wasn't." The words came out flat. Final. "She was never dead. He just made me think she was."
Kimber's face went white. "I didn't know. Quinn, I swear I didn't—"
I was already moving. Past her. Past the reporters. Out into the cold night air where I could finally breathe.
My daughter was alive.
And I was going to find her.
