Part 1
My name is Maya Cross, and exactly four minutes ago, I discovered that the man I’ve shared a bed with for seven years wasn’t my husband—he was my handler.
I was standing barefoot on the cold hardwood of our suburban Chicago home, holding an encrypted flash drive I had just pulled from the hidden lining of Julian’s vintage watch...
Part 1
My name is Lily Hartman, and five minutes ago, I believed my marriage to tech mogul Christopher Vale was just complicated. Now, kneeling on the cold marble floor of the Ritz-Carlton ballroom in Manhattan, I realized it was a living nightmare.
More than two hundred elite guests—venture capitalists, senators, and socialites—stared in stunned silence. The room was so quiet...
Part 1
My name is Madison Hail, and less than an hour after undergoing an emergency C-section to deliver premature triplets, my entire world turned to ash.
I was lying alone in a dim recovery room at New York Presbyterian, shivering violently as the cardiac monitors beeped in the cold air. My husband, Asher Lundren, had vanished the moment my labor...
Part 1
My name is Madison Hail, and my life fractured the exact moment my premature triplets took their first fragile gasps inside the emergency delivery room at New York Presbyterian. Outside, a ruthless blizzard battered the windows, but inside my chest, a far colder storm was brewing. I was completely alone, sweating, bleeding, and hooked to monitors after an...
Part 2
The simulator pod violently pitched forward, the hydraulics groaning as the artificial gravity thrust me aggressively against my shoulder harnesses. Red warning lights bathed the cramped cockpit in a hellish glow.
WARNING. DUAL ENGINE FLAMEOUT. ALTITUDE CRITICAL.
Over the comms, Ryan’s drunken laughter erupted into a full-blown howl. "That’s it, Sammy! You’re a brick! Brace for impact, you’re about to...
Part 2
The left turbine coughed once.
I lowered the nose another three degrees. The platform pitched so steeply that my harness cut into my collarbone.
“She’s going to hit!” someone shouted.
At one hundred eighty feet, airflow spun the compressor. The left engine ignited.
I rolled level, skimmed above the simulated canyon floor, and used the single engine to feed power into the...
Part 2
The shockwave from the blast knocked several guests to the ground, sending a tidal wave of panic through the elite crowd. Women in designer gowns and men in bespoke tuxedos trampled over each other, screaming as thick black smoke poured from the upper balcony.
"Get the Secretary in the vehicle! Evac! Evac!" I roared, my voice cutting through the...
Part 2
“Keep Cross in sight,” I told Marcus.
Dad hurried into the lobby. “There must be a mistake. Julian and I are the only people with that account.”
“Who had access to your office today?”
“My assistant, hotel staff, Julian—this is unnecessary.”
He reached for the badge. I pulled it back.
“It is evidence now.”
His fingers closed around my wrist. Marcus removed his hand...
Part 2
"Let him up, Elena," David pleaded, his voice cracking with panic as he rushed around the table. He didn't check on me to see if I was hurt. He didn't ask what Tyler had done to provoke me. He just looked at me with sheer embarrassment. "Are you insane? Let him go right now and apologize! You can't...
Part 2
I nodded. “That was my call sign.” Miles came to attention beside the Thanksgiving table. He did not salute indoors, but the respect in his posture changed the room.
“My son Aaron is alive because of you,” he said.
“Aaron brought himself home. I helped him find the deck.”
“With one engine, damaged hydraulics, and almost no visibility.” Miles placed the...
