Chapter 1 - THE MATCH
Marcus Hale had received the photograph eleven minutes before he reached the mansion.
It showed his fifteen-month-old granddaughter sitting on the living-room floor in her pink dress, crying beside a woman’s black dress shoes. The photograph was blurred, taken from the doorway, but Marcus recognized Lily immediately. Beneath it was a message from a number he did not know.
COME NOW. DON’T CALL VICTORIA.
Marcus had been at his company’s headquarters when the message arrived. His son Nathan’s widow, Victoria, had moved into the family mansion after Nathan died, and Marcus had allowed it because the house was familiar to Lily. He had spent the previous eight months trying to keep the little girl surrounded by what remained of her father’s life.
He called Victoria once.
She did not answer.
He called the housekeeper.
Her phone went straight to voicemail.
By the time his driver turned into the mansion’s long driveway, Marcus had already instructed his security chief, Elias Grant, to contact emergency services. The dispatcher was still on the line when Marcus stepped out of the car with Elias and another bodyguard, Nolan Price.
They heard Lily before they reached the front doors.
The little girl was crying with a terrified desperation Marcus had never heard from her. He crossed the entrance hall at a run, shoved the living-room doors open, and stopped only long enough to understand what he was seeing.
Victoria stood over Lily holding a fuel container. Derek Walsh, the man Victoria had introduced as her security consultant, stood nearby with a burning match.
Lily’s pink dress was wet.
The room smelled sharply of gasoline.
“Go ahead and cry,” Victoria said to the child. “No one is coming to save you.”
Elias moved first. He struck Derek’s hand before the flame could come near Lily, sending the match across the floor and immediately extinguishing it. Nolan rushed toward the fireplace and checked for another ignition source while calling for additional emergency responders.
Marcus crossed the room.
He struck Victoria, knocking her backward into the tea table, then turned as Derek lunged toward him. Marcus drove him away from Lily and into the stone base of a decorative statue. Elias and Nolan restrained Derek before he could get up.
Marcus did not stay to look at either of them.
He reached Lily, lifted her carefully, and carried her toward the open terrace doors where clean air was coming in. Her hair and dress were contaminated, and he knew he could not simply wrap her in his coat and pretend she was safe.
“Grandpa’s here,” he told her. “I’ve got you.”
Lily clung to his neck.
His security team brought clean towels and emergency washing supplies while the dispatcher guided them until paramedics arrived. Marcus kept talking to Lily, even when his voice became unfamiliar to himself.
Behind him, Victoria was screaming that he had misunderstood everything.
Marcus looked over his shoulder once.
“Save it for the police.”
Derek stopped struggling.
That was when Marcus noticed the strange thing.
Neither Victoria nor Derek looked shocked that he had arrived.
They looked shocked that he had arrived early.
By the time the first police cruiser reached the mansion, Marcus had received another message from the unknown number.
CHECK NATHAN’S WILL.
Marcus looked at Lily.
May you like
His son had been dead for eight months.
And someone believed the attack on his granddaughter had been planned around the document Nathan left behind.
