Chapter 2

2: 2

The estate alarm split the air with a shriek.

“Beep— beep— beep—!”

“Warning! Unauthorized intruder detected!”

“Warning! Security system engaged. Connecting to Mr. Sanchez's private channel…”

Mortimer had this system built to his own specifications.

He was so afraid something would happen to me that if anyone unauthorized came within ten meters,

the alarm would ping the communicator he kept on him at all times.

Even mid-way through a hundred-billion-dollar cross-border meeting, he'd get the alert the instant it triggered.

Marie clapped her hands over her ears, irritated.

“What is this garbage, it's deafening!”

She glared around at her bodyguards and screamed, “What are you standing there for! Smash that piece of junk!”

Several of them stepped up at once, swung the iron bars they carried, and battered the control panel on the wall.

Sparks flew. Wiring tore loose.

The ten-million-dollar security system went completely dead.

Butler Lambert charged up with a handful of servants, throwing himself into it.

When he saw my swollen, reddened cheek, his eyes nearly split with rage.

“Miss Fox! Have you lost your mind! Miss Swanson is Mr. Sanchez's whole life!”

“You touch a single hair on her head and Mr. Sanchez will kill you! Stop now, while there's still time!”

Marie let out a cold laugh and drove her high heel into his chest.

The kick sent him staggering back, slamming hard into the doorframe, one hand pressed to his chest in pain.

“You're nothing but an old dog the Sanchez family keeps. Who said you get a say in here!”

“As Mortimer's rightful betrothed, his intended, I'm here today to clear out one shameless kept mistress for him. Let's see who dares stop me!”

James Lambert kept staring at her, his whole face taut with panic and fear.

Only he knew that the way Mortimer looked at me every time was nothing like a man looking at his lover.

It was a man looking at the other half of his own life.

“Miss Fox, you truly will bring down disaster on us all…”

Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, and still he tried to talk her down.

“Tie this old dog up and gag him!”

Marie waved a hand impatiently, and the bodyguards pinned him to the floor and taped his mouth shut.

The whole second-floor bedroom had become a dead corner no one could reach.

Marie turned her head and looked at me like meat on a chopping block.

“Putting on airs, you little slut. Let's see who can come save you now!”

I looked back at her, cold.

“You'll regret this. Mortimer won't let you get away with it.”

Marie tossed her curls with contempt.

“I've lived my whole life without the word regret in my dictionary!”

“Get to it! Crush those legs of hers first!”