PUT YOUR HANDS DOWN! YOU'RE MAKING EVERYONE UNCOMFORTABLE!” MY 34-YEAR-OLD BILLIONAIRE HUSBAND

The world outside my SUV windshield seemed to spin.

“My father is dead?” I breathed, the words tasting like ash in my mouth.

Arthur Vance, the ruthless venture capitalist, the man who never backed down from a fight, taking his own life? It made absolutely no sense. My father was a predator. Predators don't surrender.

“The police said he left a suicide note,” Nathan continued, wiping his eyes, playing the grieving son-in-law perfectly for the camera. “He confessed to embezzling the forty million dollars from the charity, Hannah. He said he did it alone. He couldn't live with the guilt of ruining the Kyoto merger.”

My blood turned to ice.

My father hadn't taken his own life. He had been murdered.

And the suicide note was a perfectly crafted alibi to absolve Nathan of all federal crimes just three days before the multi-billion-dollar acquisition.

“Where are you, Nathan?” I asked, my voice terrifyingly calm.

“I’m at the office,” Nathan sniffled. “The police are here. They need to speak with you. Please come home, Hannah. We need each other right now.”

He was trying to lure me back to the house. If my father was dead, Nathan and Victoria had removed the only other obstacle to their absolute control of the company. I was the last loose end.

“I’ll be there soon,” I lied smoothly, ending the FaceTime call.

I stared at the black screen of my phone.

Nathan had killed my father. Or he had hired someone to do it. The man I had slept next to for eight years was a murderer.

Lily tugged gently on my sleeve from the back seat.

Mommy, why are you crying? she signed, her small face filled with genuine concern.

I hadn't even realized tears were spilling down my cheeks. I wiped them away quickly, forcing a brave smile for my daughter.

Grandpa is gone, sweetheart, I signed back slowly. He went to heaven.

Lily’s brown eyes widened. She had never been particularly close to my father—he found her deafness “inconvenient” to his fast-paced lifestyle—but she understood death. She reached out and patted my shoulder clumsily.

I love you, Mommy, she signed.

I grabbed her small hand and squeezed it. I love you too, baby. More than anything.

I couldn't go to the coffee shop now. If Nathan had the police involved, Elena Rostova wouldn't touch the story without hard, irrefutable proof that the suicide note was a forgery. And the audio recording I had on the USB drive wasn't enough to prove murder. It only proved embezzlement.

I needed to secure Lily.

I put the SUV in drive and sped out of the parking lot, heading straight for my sister Sarah’s apartment.

“Sarah,” I said urgently as she opened her door, pushing Lily gently inside. “I need you to take Lily to your cabin in the mountains. Right now. Do not turn on your cell phone. Do not tell anyone where you are.”

Sarah looked terrified. “Hannah, what is going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Dad is dead,” I whispered, ensuring Lily couldn't read my lips. “Nathan is claiming suicide, but he murdered him to cover up the embezzlement. I am the only one left who knows the truth. Nathan is going to come after me.”

Sarah gasped, covering her mouth. “Oh my god. Hannah, call the police! Tell them what you know!”

“Nathan is a billionaire, Sarah. He owns half the police department in this city,” I said, grabbing her shoulders. “If I go to the cops, he’ll have his lawyers delay and bury the evidence until the Kyoto merger goes through on Saturday. Once he has the Japanese capital, he’s untouchable.”

I looked at my sister, desperation fueling my every word.

“Take Lily. Hide. I have to finish this.”

Sarah nodded, tears welling in her eyes. She hugged me tightly. “Please be careful, Hannah. Please.”

I knelt down and pulled Lily into a fierce, suffocating hug.

You be good for Aunt Sarah, I signed, kissing her forehead. Mommy will come get you very soon.

Lily smiled and hugged her stuffed bear. Okay, Mommy.

I walked out of the apartment, the heavy door locking behind me.

I had forty-eight hours until the Kyoto merger gala. Nathan thought he had won. He thought pinning the embezzlement on a dead man absolved him of all guilt.

But Nathan had made one massive, arrogant mistake.

He didn't realize that I knew Victoria Lane had secretly recorded him in that boardroom.

I drove straight to the towering glass skyscraper of Sterling Tech in downtown Seattle. I parked in the underground garage, pulling a dark baseball cap low over my face.

It was 7 PM. The police had likely finished processing my father's office. The building would be mostly empty, operating on skeleton security.

I used the emergency stairwell, bypassing the lobby security desk where I was known. I climbed thirty floors, my lungs burning, adrenaline pushing me forward.

I reached the executive suite. The heavy glass doors were locked, but I knew Nathan’s master override code. He used the same code for everything: the year his company hit its first million. 2018.

The doors clicked open.

The executive floor was dark and silent. Yellow police tape was stretched across the double doors of my father’s massive corner office. I didn't look at it. I couldn't.

I walked straight past it, heading for Victoria Lane’s office at the end of the hall.

Victoria was head of international partnerships. Her office was sleek, aggressive, and filled with expensive modern art.

I locked the door behind me and turned on my small penlight.

Victoria was smart enough to blackmail two billionaires. She wouldn't keep the original audio recording on her work computer, and she certainly wouldn't trust the cloud. She would keep a physical backup. A trump card in case Nathan ever tried to turn on her.

I searched her desk. Empty. I checked the back of the picture frames. Nothing.

I moved to the large, abstract metal sculpture sitting in the corner of the room. It was heavy, hollow in the center. I shined my light inside.

There, taped securely to the inner metal lining, was a small, black external hard drive.

I reached in and pulled it free.

“Looking for this?” a voice purred from the darkness.

I spun around, dropping the penlight.

The main office lights suddenly flicked on, blinding me.

Standing by the light switch, wearing a flawless black pantsuit and holding a suppressed silver pistol, was Victoria Lane.