Where I proceeded to spend the day not with James, as I had thought, but with Vincent.

I could not tell the difference.

Of course, I was six.

I open the hatch and walk into the ship. There’s a ladder so I climb, because I know full well I’m not going to find the owner of this boat down here. The next floor up also has a ladder, so I climb again. This floor has decks. But not the deck I’m looking for. So I go up one more level. This is a big-ass ship.

I hear soft music playing in the saloon area and when I step in, the cramped companionway opens up to a room filled with sleek, modern furniture.

“There she is,” a woman’s voice says from off to my left. She’s middle age, maybe mid-fifties. Her hair is dark and piled high on her head in an extravagant updo that contrasts with her beachwear. She tips her sunglasses down her nose and stares at me with brilliant green eyes.

So they get them from their mother, I catch myself thinking as she stands and extends her hand, walking towards me. “Harper Tate,” she coos as she waits for me to shake her hand. I do that, I’m on autopilot, and her grip is soft and so are her hands. “Finally, we get to see the golden child.”

I step back. “I’m sorry,” I say politely. “I’m at a disadvantage here.”

“Oh,” the mother coos again. “Albert, I do believe your son has neglected his manners.” She looks over my shoulder and I turn to greet Albert.

I’m so glad my back is to the mother, because Albert is a drooling old man in a wheelchair. His head lies against his shoulder and his hands are secured to the arms of his wheelchair with Velcro strips.

He’s wearing a bib.

This. Is James’ father.

The titular head of a Company family. And from what my father said, only this family competes with our rank. Company royalty, he called my future children.

I look back to the mother and take her in again, this time seeing her for what she really is. The actual head of a global shadow government. A woman who not only bargains the lives of girls but sends sons off to kill on command.

“Mrs. Albert Fenici,” she says as she watches me. “Now tell me, dear, what can I do for you?” If my stunned silence bothers her, she keeps that tucked away. “Oh, come now, Harper. Relax. We’re practically family now. I’ve been told you’re a nervous girl. Have a drink with me and settle down on the couch over there.” She points and I wander over there automatically.

I don’t know why I’m so off guard. I’m just… surprised to learn the person in charge of all these atrocities is a woman.

“How is Vincent treating you, dear? Well?” I don’t answer. “And how is your father? I haven’t seen him in ages.” She smiles and allows herself a small laugh as she drops ice cubes into a tumbler from behind the bar. “What’s your poison?”

“Huh?” I ask back, coming out of my stupor.

“Your drink, dear. What do you like to drink?”

“Bottled water, please.”

She laughs again and pours me something from a bottle all right. But it’s not water. “Try this.” She walks over to me, her gauzy robe flaring out behind her and her strappy stiletto sandals clicking on the hardwood deck. My nanny was wrong after all. Stilettos are perfectly acceptable footwear on a ship.

I put a hand up as she tries to give me the drink. “I can’t, I’m sorry. I took an Ativan today and I shouldn’t drink when I take the pills.”

“Oh.” She looks at me in a new way. She—studies me. As if she’s trying to detect the effects of the drug. But after a few seconds she takes the drink back to the bar and sets it on the stone counter.

I guess whatever she poured me is not her poison of choice.

“Are you not a talker, darling?”

“How?” is all that comes out.

“How what?” She blinks at me.

I consider my choices right now. “How do you live with yourself knowing you sent him off to kill?”

I could play her game.

Her smile drops and her jaw clenches. “James, you mean? Or Tony? Or perhaps you mean my daughter, Nicola?”

Or I could humor her.

“All of the above.”

“It’s Company policy, darling. You will send your children off as well. Soon,” she says, pointing her glass at my belly.

Or I could kill her.

“I could snap your neck right now.”

“What?”

“Just twist it, like I did that assassin on the dirt bike who tried to take Sasha.”

“You do know what side you’re on? Whose side you’re on?”

The familiar womp-womp-womp of a helicopter invades the conversation as it makes an approach.

“I could get even for what you made him do. I could—”

I say more and more, but the helicopter is so loud now it steals my words. But I look at her face and that’s all I need. I will remember the horror she feels in this moment when she realizes she underestimated me. When she realizes one half-dead man in a wheelchair can’t save her if I decide to end her reign of terror.

The ship rocks as the bird lands and she spills her drink because those fucking shoes really aren’t appropriate footwear for a boat and they make her stumble.

“Harper,” Vincent yells over the thumping blades as he grips the sides of the ladder and jumps down to our deck. He crosses the room and stands between me and his mother. His hair is a mess. In fact, he’s sort of a mess all over. His shirt is open at the top and he’s got no jacket and no tie on. Like he just rolled out of bed.

Asshole. He probably has a girl in that house who will fuck him. He probably spent the day with her.

“Let’s go,” he says, leaning way down into my ear. His grip on my hand never softens. It’s rigid and tight. He places a hand on my other elbow, guiding me past his mother as we make our way to the ladder that will take us to the heliport.

Her hand snaps out as I pass her and the ice-cold contents of her glass splash all over my face.

“Stop it,” Vincent yells, pushing her back when she comes at me.

“How dare that little whore say such things to me.”

I wiggle in Vincent’s tight grip and manage to turn around enough to snarl at her. “Bitch. You’re a bitch who deserves to die for what you did. I will kill you! I will fucking kill you!”