Chapter 3

The deafening roar of rotor blades suddenly ripped through the Manhattan skyline, the violent gusts of wind rattling the restaurant's massive floor-to-ceiling windows hard enough to shake the glass in its frame.

The music inside cut off instantly. Liam, who'd been pressed up against Mia on the dance floor, froze mid-step. Every guest turned toward the windows, panic flooding their faces.

A convoy of blacked-out, bulletproof Chevrolet Suburbans screeched to a halt outside, tires shrieking, parking themselves directly in front of the restaurant's entrance like a wall.

The doors flew open, and dozens of top-tier bodyguards flooded in—black suits, earpieces, the works—moving like a tide of shadows.

"Everyone, hands on your heads! Get down! Nobody moves!" The lead security chief drew a stun gun from his belt, his voice cold enough to freeze blood.

The restaurant manager tried to step forward. "Who do you think you are? This is a private—"

He didn't even finish the sentence before two guards slammed him to the ground, a knee crushing down on his neck.

Dead silence fell over the entire restaurant. The only sound left was the sharp intake of breath from a room full of terrified people.

The crowd parted violently, a clear path opening up.

The crisp, measured click of high heels echoed through the room as a woman walked in, dressed in a tailored charcoal-gray suit.

Her makeup was sharp, precise, and her eyes held all the warmth of a polar ice sheet.

That was my mother. Victoria. The iron-fisted queen sitting at the head of a hundred-billion-dollar global empire.

"Chloe!" Victoria's eyes locked onto her daughter the second she spotted me, lying in a pool of blood beside the shattered EpiPen.

For the first time—the very first time—that face of hers, the one that never so much as flickered no matter what crisis hit, cracked with pure, raw panic.

"Medical team! NOW!" she barked.

The elite private medical team trailing behind the security detail surged forward instantly.

The doctor sliced through my collar with quick, practiced movements, jamming a high-dose adrenaline shot straight into my thigh muscle while another slapped a high-pressure oxygen mask over my face.

"Blood pressure's crashing, she's going into shock! Get the defibrillator ready!" the doctor snapped, voice tight with urgency.

Under the force of the drug, my throat let out a raw, rasping sound. My heavy eyelids cracked open just a sliver.

"Mom..." I managed to breathe out, and the tears came instantly.

"Don't be scared, baby. Mom's here. Nobody's ever going to hurt you again." Victoria gripped my hand tight, then turned toward the puddle of medication and the crushed plastic pen on the floor—and her eyes went absolutely lethal.

That's when Liam, pinned against the wall by a guard, finally snapped out of his shock and started thrashing, screaming in fury. "Who the hell are you people?! What gives you the right to storm into my celebration party?!"

"Chloe's just a broke assistant—you've clearly got the wrong person!"

Mia was shaking, terrified, but still tried to keep up her sweet-girl act, shrieking, "This is breaking and entering! I'm calling the police on you people! She was just faking it!"

Victoria rose slowly, looking down at the two of them like they were nothing more than a couple of clowns performing a bad act. She didn't even bother speaking. Just tilted her chin, barely, in their direction.

The security chief stepped forward and drove his foot straight into Liam's stomach, no hesitation, no mercy.

"UGHH!" Liam doubled over, curling in on himself, cold sweat pouring down his face.

"Don't worry. I already called the police for you." Victoria's voice was ice, stripped of every last trace of warmth. "Seize every camera and every recording in this building. These two are being charged with attempted first-degree murder and handed directly over to NYPD headquarters."

"Murder?! What the hell are you talking about?! It was just a JOKE!" Mia screeched, her face draining of every last drop of color.

"Whether it was a joke or not, you can explain that to my legal team." Victoria's smile was ice-cold as she turned, guiding the stretcher carrying me toward the exit.

"Get them out of here."