"I knew it," Liam said with vicious satisfaction. "She can't even defend herself. Can't explain where the money came from. Because there is no legitimate explanation, is there, Diana?""Ryan, I—" Diana tried again, but the words stuck in her throat.Her eyes began scanning the reception hall, searching desperately for Marcus. He would know what to say. He would have answers. He'd sent the money, after all—he must have some explanation she could use.But Marcus wasn't there.Marcus had disappeared, slipped away during her moment of triumph, leaving her alone to face accusations she couldn't answer and anger she didn't entirely understand.Panic began to claw at Diana's chest. Where was he? Why had he left? How was she supposed to explain any of this without him?"Looking for your beggar husband?" Ryan noticed the direction of Diana's searching gaze, and his voice took on a new edge of cruelty. "The one who spent the evening pretending to have money he doesn't possess? Who bid millions

Twenty miles outside the city, in a modest roadside hotel that catered to truckers and traveling salesmen, Marcus Hayes sat alone in a small room eating takeout Chinese food directly from the containers.The hotel was deliberately chosen—cheap enough to be beneath notice, far enough from the city to provide distance, anonymous enough that no one would think to look for him here. His phone sat on the nightstand, screen dark, but Marcus knew his people were monitoring the situation at the orphanage through multiple channels.Rex had positioned surveillance teams around the charity event. Jacob was tracking digital communications. Other members of Marcus's network—people whose existence the provincial elite of this city couldn't even imagine—were ensuring that Diana remained safe even in his absence.Marcus had needed to leave. Needed to draw Sophia's attention away from Diana, needed to prevent the connection between them from becoming too obvious, needed to give Sophia a reason to purs

Marcus came back to the present with a sharp inhale, finding himself standing in the middle of the cheap hotel room with his hands clenched into fists."I stabbed him in the neck," Marcus said, his voice hollow. "The carotid artery. He was bleeding out before he went over. Even if the fall didn't kill him, the blood loss would have. Even if both of those didn't kill him, the ocean did. No one survives those waters in a storm like that.""Sir—" Rex tried again."No one, Rex." Marcus turned to face him directly, and the pain in his eyes was raw and undisguised. "I watched the water take him. I searched for hours. There was nothing. No body, yes, but that's not unusual in those conditions. The currents, the sharks, the depth—bodies don't always surface.""I understand what you saw," Rex said carefully. "But sir, the facial recognition hit came with additional intelligence. Photographs. Video footage. Biometric markers that match Pablo Castro's known profile."Marcus felt the floor seem t

"In exchange for making it actually valuable, yes." Lucas spread his hands as if the logic was self-evident. "Right now, you have three percent of nothing you can access. Partner with me, and you have access to everything that stake represents. Contracts, connections, opportunities that would transform both our families' positions in this city.""And what do you get out of this generous offer?" Diana asked, her voice heavy with suspicion."Forty-nine percent of your three percent," Lucas said bluntly. "Leaving you with controlling interest but giving me enough stake to justify my involvement. Plus, I handle all the relationship management with Sophia's team—something you clearly can't do yourself."Diana's breath caught. He wanted nearly half of what she'd just purchased, in exchange for... what? Access she should already have? Connections she'd theoretically bought with her fifty million?"And in return?" Diana pressed. "What else?"Lucas's smile widened. "In return, I make sure the

The van T-boned Diana's car on the passenger side with a crash of metal and shattering glass that seemed to fill the entire universe. Diana's head snapped sideways, her seatbelt catching hard across her chest. The world spun in a chaos of sound and force and the acrid smell of deployed airbags.When the motion finally stopped, Diana found herself pinned against the driver's seat, her door crushed inward, broken glass everywhere. Her ears rang with a high-pitched whine that drowned out everything else.Through the shattered passenger window, she saw the van's door sliding open. Men poured out—four of them, dressed in dark clothes, faces covered with ski masks, moving with the coordinated purpose of professionals.Thugs. Attackers. Coming for her.Diana's driver was slumped over the steering wheel, unconscious or worse. She tried to reach for her phone, but her hands were shaking too badly, and the device had fallen somewhere in the chaos of the crash.The first attacker reached her doo