“Kill her!” Daniel screamed.
His personal guards drew their weapons, aiming straight at my bruised chest.
Guests scattered in sheer panic.
I didn’t flinch. I simply tapped my gold Founder’s badge twice.
The marble floor vibrated as heavy steel blast shutters slammed down over every door and window. Total lockdown.
“You think steel doors will save you, Elena?” Daniel sneered, snatching a 9mm from his lead guard. “I’ll finish the job myself.”
“They aren’t to keep me safe, Daniel,” I said. “They’re to keep you from running.”
Vanessa suddenly lunged, trying to wrestle the gun away from him. “I’m not going to prison for murder!” she shrieked.
Before Daniel could pull the trigger, the lobby speakers crackled to life.
“Drop the weapon, Danny.”
That voice drained the blood from Daniel’s face.
The private elevator doors slid open again.
A woman in a sharp black suit stepped into the lobby. On her left wrist, a silver bracelet gleamed under the crystal chandeliers.
My mother.
She wasn’t dead. The boating accident had been a calculated decoy. She’d gone underground to trace Daniel’s embezzled billions, waiting for him to make a mistake.
And the hitman Daniel had hired to run me off the cliff?
He stepped out of the elevator right behind her, flashing a federal badge. He had been my mother’s inside man the entire time.
Daniel’s gun hit the marble floor with a hollow clatter. He fell to his knees, utterly defeated.
My mother walked over, gently touching my bruised cheek before turning her cold gaze to Daniel. “The FBI is waiting on the other side of those shutters.”
I wiped a streak of blood from my chin and looked down at a trembling Vanessa.
“Now,” I whispered. “Get this nobody out of my resort.”