Chapter 1 - The Wrong Car Door
Twelve days earlier, Elena Vargas ran barefoot through the rain.
She did not know where she was going.
She only knew she could not return to the mansion.
The gates behind her were still opening when she reached the road. Security lights swept across the wet pavement. Somewhere in the darkness, men shouted her name.
Elena held the front of her damaged silver dress above her knees and ran toward the line of cars waiting outside the charity gala.
The rain was so heavy that she could barely see their shapes.
A black sedan stood near the end of the driveway with its rear door unlocked.
She pulled it open and climbed inside.
“Drive,” she gasped.
The driver turned in surprise.
The man seated beside her did not.
Matthew Reeves looked at Elena as though frightened women entered his car every night.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and dressed in a dark suit without a tie. His face was calm, but not kind. He studied the dark red coat clutched around her, her soaked hair, and the faint mark near her cheek.
Then he looked through the rear window.
The mansion gates were fully open.
A black SUV came speeding down the driveway.
“Drive,” Matthew told the man behind the wheel.
The sedan pulled away.
Elena curled against the leather seat, gripping the borrowed coat around her shoulders.
Heavy rain struck the windows.
The SUV followed.
Bright headlights filled the rear window.
“They found me,” Elena whispered.
Matthew watched the pursuing vehicle.
“Who are they?”
“My stepmother’s men.”
He looked at her again.
“Elena Vargas.”
It was not a question.
Her fear sharpened.
“You know who I am?”
“Everyone in this city knows who you are.”
“That is not an answer.”
The SUV accelerated.
Elena reached toward the door handle.
Matthew caught her wrist.
He released it immediately when she flinched.
“Opening that door at this speed will not help you.”
“I cannot go back.”
“Then stay down.”
He signaled the driver.
The sedan turned sharply onto a narrow side road lined with trees.
The SUV followed.
Matthew’s phone vibrated on the seat between them.
The screen lit up.
ISABEL VARGAS.
Elena stared at the name.
The world seemed to narrow around her.
“You know her?”
Matthew picked up the phone but did not answer.
His eyes remained fixed on Elena.
“You opened the wrong car door.”
The sedan turned again.
The headlights behind them disappeared for three seconds, then returned.
Elena pressed herself against the opposite door.
“Stop the car.”
“No.”
“Let me out.”
“Not while they are following us.”
“Then answer her.”
Matthew looked at the vibrating phone.
“No.”
“Why is my stepmother calling you?”
“Because she thinks I have something she wants.”
Elena glanced toward the driver.
He was older, perhaps fifty, with silver at his temples. His eyes remained on the road.
Matthew leaned forward.
“Marcus, take the tunnel.”
“The east entrance is probably covered,” Marcus replied.
“Then use the maintenance road.”
Elena’s fear turned to confusion.
“Who are you?”
Matthew looked through the rain-covered window.
“The person whose car you were not supposed to enter.”
The sedan raced beneath an overpass.
For several seconds, the city vanished behind concrete walls and darkness.
When they emerged, the SUV was gone.
Marcus did not slow down.
Matthew’s phone stopped vibrating.
A message appeared.
BRING HER BACK.
Elena saw it before he turned the screen facedown.
“What did you take from the mansion?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“That is not why Isabel sent two vehicles after you.”
“I saw something.”
“What?”
Elena looked at his phone.
“I will not tell you until you tell me why she trusts you.”
Matthew’s expression remained still.
“She does not trust me.”
“But she believes you will bring me back.”
“Yes.”
“Will you?”
May you like
He looked directly at her.
“I have not decided.”
