Chapter 6

Evertt walked up the grand staircase. His boots hit the marble steps with heavy, angry thuds. He needed to get to his study. He had military contracts to review, and his mind was a mess.

Before he reached the top landing, he heard a small scuffling sound behind him.

"No! Let me go!" a tiny voice cried out.

Evertt stopped and turned around. Little Peggy had ripped her hand away from the butler's grip. She ran up the stairs as fast as her short legs could carry her. She crashed into Evertt's legs and grabbed the fabric of his suit pants with both hands.

Evertt looked down. His dark eyebrows pulled together. He did not like children. He did not like being touched. But he did not push her away.

He slowly bent his knees and crouched down to her level. He kept his voice low so he would not scare her more. "Why are you not going to the side wing with your mother?"

Peggy sniffled loudly. Tears ran down her round cheeks. "I don't want you to be mad at Mommy, Uncle Evertt."

Evertt let out a heavy sigh. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a clean, white silk handkerchief. He wiped the tears off the little girl's face. His movements were stiff and awkward.

"Peggy," Evertt said, looking directly into her watery eyes. "Tell me the truth. How did the doll break?"

Peggy looked down at the stairs. She twisted the fabric of his pants in her hands. She peeked over her shoulder at the bottom of the stairs, where Jada was being held back by security. Then, she looked back at Evertt.

"I broke it," Peggy whispered. Her voice was shaking. "I was running in the garden yesterday. I tripped on a rock and fell on it. It broke."

Evertt's eyes narrowed. The muscles in his neck went tight. "Then why did you say Irena broke it?"

Peggy dropped her chin to her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut. "Mommy told me to. She said if I told you the bad lady broke it, you would make the bad lady go away."

The words hit Evertt like a physical punch to the gut.

He stood up slowly. He looked down the stairs at Jada. His eyes were so cold they looked dead.

Jada saw his face. Her knees gave out. She collapsed onto the marble floor, sobbing hysterically.

Evertt turned to the butler, who had run up the stairs behind the child. "Contact the Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland immediately," Evertt ordered. His voice was completely devoid of emotion. "Arrange for Peggy to be enrolled tomorrow. She leaves tonight."

Jada screamed from the bottom of the stairs. "No! Evertt, please! She is my baby!" She tried to crawl up the steps, but two security guards grabbed her arms and held her down.

Evertt ignored the screaming. He turned around and walked the rest of the way up the stairs. He went straight to his study and slammed the heavy oak doors shut behind him. The loud bang echoed through the house.

Inside the study, the air felt too thin. Evertt walked straight to the liquor cabinet. He grabbed a crystal decanter and poured three fingers of amber whiskey into a glass. He drank it straight down. The alcohol burned his throat and settled hot in his stomach, but it did not burn away his thoughts.

He walked over to his massive desk and sat down. He unlocked the bottom drawer and pulled out a thick manila folder. It was the old investigation report on Irena Frost and the Hendricks family.

He opened the folder. He started reading the pages again. He read every single word.

He read about her father's gambling debts. He read about her uncle's failing businesses. Then, his eyes stopped on a specific paragraph. It detailed a proposed marriage contract between Irena and Arthur Vance.

Evertt's stomach clenched. He knew Arthur Vance. The man was a monster. He had a reputation in the underground clubs for extreme violence against women.

Evertt leaned back in his leather chair. He stared at the ceiling. A terrible, uncomfortable thought crawled into his brain.

He had always believed Irena drugged him because she wanted his money and his status. He thought she was a greedy, manipulative snake.

But what if she wasn't?

What if she trapped him because it was the only way to escape being sold to a murderer?

The realization made his chest ache. He looked at the empty whiskey glass on his desk. What if the story was more complicated than he had believed? He pushed the thought away, his jaw tightening. It did not change the fact that she had drugged him. But for the very first time, a fracture appeared in his absolute certainty.