Chapter 4

The second the car doors locked, the man in the driver’s seat started frantically ripping off the police uniform. He tossed the stiff jacket into the backseat, his face pale and dripping with sweat.

"You know there are tigers on the mountain, and you still walk straight into the damn tiger's den," Daniel Heimler muttered, his voice trembling with residual panic.

Kerry calmly fastened her seatbelt. "No risk, no reward."

"You want the money more than your life."

"Fortune favors the bold, Dan."

Daniel dragged a hand down his face. "It was too damn bold! I stepped out of the car to buy water, and a whole patrol car full of actual cops nodded at me! I nearly pissed myself, Kerry. I thought they were going to come over and ask for my badge number!"

Kerry couldn't help but laugh. "That’s not a problem with your psychological endurance. That’s a problem with your urinary tract."

Daniel glared at her. She was entirely too unbothered. "I’m wearing a fake eBay police uniform! If they caught me, the best case scenario is I get locked up for impersonating an officer. And if I’m in jail, what happens if you get in trouble inside that club? Who the hell is going to save you?!"

Seeing that he was genuinely spiraling, Kerry softened her tone. "Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Don't be mad. I made it out in one piece, didn't I?"

Daniel forced his eyes back to the road, scowling. "They say women are their own worst enemies. Maggie Dolley is pure evil. When Cole was here, she was all smiles. The second Cole left on his business trip, she pulled a knife out from behind her back. Look at the clients she’s dumped on you this month! It’s a concentration camp for scum. I thought she’d tone it down since Cole is coming back soon, but no—she shoves you straight into Clifton Condon's lap! She actively wants you dead!"

Compared to Daniel’s furious rant, Kerry remained perfectly placid. "Who told Cole to recruit me personally? Who told him to recruit me straight out of graduation and fast-track me to a B-tier tutor? Maggie obviously has a thing for him. A jealous woman looking at another woman... of course she’s seeing red."

Daniel scoffed, thoroughly disgusted. "She’s giving you the absolute worst of the worst, and you still won't complain to Cole. Once you rack up ten bad client reviews, you're instantly fired. She’s going to tell you to pack up your desk and piss off."

"Do you think we're still in kindergarten?" Kerry asked softly. "That crying to the teacher solves everything? We arethe teachers now. Who am I supposed to cry to? Maggie already thinks I’m a nepotism hire. If I run to Cole over every little obstacle, it just proves her right. Besides... what would Cole think of me if I can’t even handle a little workplace sabotage? It’s one thing to lose face myself, but I won't drag him down and make him look blind for hiring me."

Daniel was speechless for a moment. "Maggie didn't expect you to actually go to Condon," he finally admitted, his voice tight. "There's a rumor that a female tutor was thrown out of his car on the mountain highway half-naked. She had to walk for hours to get back to the city. No one dared to call the cops. It just got buried. Now, the second you mention Condon's name, no one will take the job, no matter how much it pays. Only you..."

Kerry stared straight ahead into the dark, rushing street. Her face was hidden in the shadows of the cabin. "Well," she murmured. "I survived this hurdle, at least."

Ping.

Her phone lit up in the cup holder.

Kerry picked it up. It was a text message from an unsaved number. She opened it.

The police uniform is pretty convincing. Tell him to be more confident next time.

Kerry stared at the glowing letters, her blood turning to ice.

In her mind, she could already see Clif’s face. She could hear the lazy, dangerous drawl of his voice saying those exact words. One second ago, she’d been silently celebrating her survival. Now, her heart plummeted straight to the bottom of her stomach.

She stared at the screen for a long, agonizing moment. She typed out a response, deleted it, and finally settled on a perfectly neutral reply:

Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Condon.

She waited. The screen went dark. He didn't reply—he wasn't the type to. She shoved the phone deep into her bag, desperately trying to suppress the wave of panic rising in her chest. He knows everything.

"What do you want to eat?" Daniel asked, noticing she’d gone quiet.

"I don't know," Kerry deflected. "What do you want?"

"I don't care. It’s on you. Good or bad, at least you finally opened an account."

"Let's go home," Kerry said, forcing a smile. "I’ll cook you something good. Consider it a thank you for playing my bodyguard and putting your life on the line tonight."

Daniel had been friends with Kerry for six years. What he admired most wasn't her ability to ace every math exam—it was her borderline-magical culinary skills. The second she mentioned cooking, he drifted the car just under the speed limit, racing back to their apartment building.

Neither of them were locals. When they moved to the city for Vanguard, they rented apartments right across the hall from each other. In the time it took Daniel to shower and hide his fake uniform, Kerry had already fried up a massive plate of lamb skewers, spicy potato slices, and two bowls of hot comfort soup.

Daniel followed the smell into her apartment, his eyes practically glowing. "Holy shit. The heavy artillery."

Kerry popped the tab on an ice-cold beer and handed it to him. "Obviously. Gotta respect your frat-boy, BBQ-and-beer bloodline."

They sat around the coffee table, eating and drinking. Daniel was a notoriously lightweight drinker; two cans in, he was already swaying. Kerry quickly shooed him back across the hall before he passed out on her rug, then cleaned up the kitchen and got ready for bed.

It wasn't until she was standing naked under the bathroom lights that she noticed them.

Deep, angry red handprints bruised her upper arms. The marks looked shockingly violent against her pale skin. It took her a few seconds to realize they were from David Macy aggressively grabbing her at the club.

Thinking of the club inevitably dragged Clif’s face back into her mind. The way he had ruthlessly grabbed David by the hair, smashing his skull into the glass. Again, and again. The blood smearing down the wall...

Blood...

Kerry had been standing under the showerhead with her eyes closed. She suddenly flinched backward, her heart hammering. She stared wide-eyed at the floor. The water swirling down the drain was perfectly clear.

It took her a long time to reach out and twist the faucet off.

She dried off and climbed into bed, mentally and physically exhausted. She fell asleep almost immediately, but it wasn't peaceful.

She had a nightmare.

A man with a blurred face. He was beating a woman, relentlessly, viciously. He used whatever he could get his hands on—a chair, a coat hanger, a heavy desk lamp, a pillow.

Kerry stood there, forced to watch the entire thing. The terror suffocated her. She wanted to scream, wanted to lunge forward and stop him, but her body was paralyzed. She opened her mouth to cry for help, but no sound came out. Only silent, hot tears.

Slowly, her eyes fluttered open in the dark. For a few disorienting seconds, she couldn't tell if she was awake or still trapped in the dream. Her face felt itchy. She raised a trembling hand to her cheek. It was soaked with tears.

I should not be here.

She was so incredibly tired. She hadn't had this dream in a long time, but every time it surfaced, it left her hollowed out and broken.

At 5:30 in the morning, Kerry dragged herself out of bed, showered the cold sweat off her body, and sat on the edge of the mattress. She dialed a number. The screen displayed the letters ZP.

It rang exactly once before a woman’s overly excited voice crackled through the speaker. "Well, well! Look who's calling right on the dot. I literally just stepped off the plane. Ten seconds earlier and my phone would've been off."

"I'm calling now to get it out of the way," Kerry said dryly. "So you don't whine at me later."

"Look at you. You obviously love me, but you insist on using this icy exterior to hide it."

"Glad you landed safely," Kerry replied. "Go straight home and sleep. Call me when you wake up."

"Sleep? Who has time for sleep?" Zoe Price laughed. "I have two clients to meet this morning, I have to go to my dad's to beg for an invitation this afternoon, and tonight, I am crashing a massive commercial networking party."

Kerry frowned, her tone teasing. "You’re an heiress worth over a billion dollars. Instead of laying in bed and enjoying your trust fund, you insist on playing the 'self-made entrepreneur' game. What are you even trying to prove?"

"I’m trying to ensure that when my dad eventually goes bankrupt, I can be the first generation of new wealth," Zoe shot back.

"Have you gotten your persecution complex checked out recently?"

"Stop interrupting," Zoe commanded. "You're coming with me tonight."

Kerry raised a brow. "Why would I do that?"

Zoe’s voice dropped, turning sharp and highly suggestive. "Because of two words. Nathan Arcand. I heard he’s going to be there. So... are you coming or not?"

On the other end of the line, Kerry went dead silent.