Chapter 5

Arline sat on the cold floor for two minutes. She forced her brain to lock the fear of Kipp Sandoval away in a dark box.

She grabbed the wall and pushed herself up. She smoothed the wrinkles out of her grey skirt. She took a deep breath.

She walked to the bathroom at the end of the hall. She turned on the sink and splashed freezing water onto her face. She slapped her cheeks hard, forcing the blood to rise to the surface. The sharp, stinging pain was a necessary shock to her system. It forced her brain to snap out of the paralyzing terror Kipp Sandoval had triggered. She could not walk into her dying father's room looking like a shattered, frightened victim; he needed her strength, not her trauma.

She looked in the mirror. She still looked exhausted. She bit her lower lip hard until she tasted copper. She forced the corners of her mouth up into a gentle, fake smile.

Arline walked to the south side of the second floor. She stopped in front of the glass doors of the sunroom.

This was where Gary Monroe spent his days.

She pushed the glass door open. The early morning sun cut through the trees outside and filled the room with bright light.

Gary sat in a motorized wheelchair facing the window. A thick, grey cashmere blanket covered his legs.

He heard the door open. He turned his head.

When he saw Arline, the dull, tired look in his eyes vanished. A bright spark of joy lit up his face.

Arline walked fast across the room. She dropped to her knees beside the wheelchair. She rested her head gently on his thin knee.

Gary reached out. His hand trembled. The back of his hand was covered in dark purple bruises from constant IV needles. He stroked Arline's hair.

"You came home in the middle of the night," Gary said. His voice was weak and raspy. "Did Edgardo do something to you?"

Arline's spine went rigid at the sound of Edgardo's name. She quickly buried her face deeper into the blanket so Gary could not see her eyes.

She lifted her head and kept the fake smile on her face.

"No, Dad," Arline lied. Her voice was perfectly smooth. "Edgardo is just very busy with a new defense contract. He is sleeping at the office. Honestly, I just felt incredibly homesick. I wanted to sleep in my own bed and wake up in the house where I actually feel like myself. Plus, Cora needed me to review some urgent trust fund documents early this morning, and it was easier to do it from here."

Gary looked at the red veins in the whites of her eyes. He knew she was lying. He was a diplomat; he read people for a living. But he saw how desperately she was trying to protect him. He chose not to break her cover.

Gary sighed. A heavy look of guilt settled on his wrinkled face.

"My illness is a burden on you," Gary said. "It forces you to swallow your pride in that house."

Arline grabbed his bruised hand. Tears burned the back of her eyes.

"You are my father," Arline said fiercely. "You are the only family I have left. You are never a burden."

Gary reached toward a small table next to his wheelchair. He picked up a thick manila folder. He handed it to Arline.

"These are the authorization documents for the last three trust funds under my name," Gary said. "If the day comes when you cannot tolerate the Caldwells anymore, take this money. It is enough for you to leave with your head held high."

Arline stared at the folder. A sharp pain stabbed her chest. Her father was dying, and he was still secretly building an escape route for her.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. She took the folder and forced a laugh.

"I am going to inherit the whole Monroe empire anyway, Dad," she joked.

Gary smiled. The smile turned into a wet, rattling cough. His chest he heave.

Arline panicked. She grabbed a glass of warm water from the table and held it to his lips.

She watched his pale, shaking lips sip the water. Her mind flashed to what Alfred said. One week of the experimental drug left.

She ground her teeth together. She would burn Washington D. C. to the ground before she let her father run out of medicine.

A nurse walked into the sunroom carrying a tray of medical equipment. It was time for Gary's morning treatment.

Arline tucked the cashmere blanket tightly around Gary's legs. She stood up.

She watched the nurse wheel Gary out of the room. The fake smile dropped from her face instantly.

Her eyes turned cold and calculating. She pulled her phone from her pocket. She opened a financial app and pulled up the stock data for Caldwell Pharmaceuticals.

She stared at the green numbers moving on the screen. She needed to steal the formula for the drug, or she needed to find a lab that could reverse-engineer it.

She turned around and walked out of the sunroom. She headed straight for the private study. It was time to start the war.