Z

By six-thirty that morning, I was sitting in the back of Adrian Mercer’s armored SUV with a paper cup of coffee in one hand and a breakfast sandwich in the other while two security vehicles followed us through Philadelphia.

I had eaten three bites.

Adrian had noticed every one.

“You’re staring at me.”

“I’m making sure you eat.”

“That’s strange.”

“So is sleeping in a laundromat.”

I lowered the sandwich.

“You’re going to use that forever, aren’t you?”

“Probably.”

The city moved past the tinted windows in gray September light.

People were beginning their mornings.

Joggers.

Delivery trucks.

Parents walking children toward school.

Normal lives.

I wanted one so badly that it embarrassed me.

Instead, my sister was sick, my finances had been destroyed, someone at a hospital had apparently been tracking my payments, and the man across from me was reading reports on a tablet while armed guards followed us home.

Home.

Not mine.

His.

The Mercer estate sat forty minutes outside downtown Philadelphia behind stone walls, iron gates, and enough surveillance equipment to make the White House look careless.

I had spent almost two years there.

I knew every hallway.

Every kitchen drawer.

Every hiding place Ethan used when he didn’t want to take a bath.

I knew which staircase creaked and which housekeeper secretly watched crime documentaries during lunch.

But I had never thought of the place as somewhere I could need.

When the SUV stopped, the front door opened before we reached it.

A small body came flying down the steps.

“Claire!”

Ethan slammed into me.

I almost dropped my coffee.

He wrapped both arms around my waist.

“You didn’t come home.”

“I know, buddy.”

“You said Lily was sick.”

“She is. But she’s stable.”

He looked up at me with serious gray eyes that were almost identical to his father’s.

“Did she almost die?”

Children had a talent for asking the question adults spent hours avoiding.

I knelt.

“She got very sick last night.”

“But she’s okay?”

“For now.”

His lower lip trembled.

I pulled him against me.

Adrian stood three feet away, watching.

“Claire’s staying here today,” he said.

Ethan pulled back.

“You’re not working?”

“No.”

“Then we can watch dinoNextrs.”

Adrian frowned.

“At seven in the morning?”

Ethan looked at him like he had said something deeply stupid.

“DinoNextrs are awake in the morning.”

I laughed.

It was the first real laugh I had managed in days.

Adrian’s eyes moved to me.

For a strange second, he looked relieved.

Then his phone rang.

The warmth disappeared.

“Hale.”

He listened.

“Study. Ten minutes.”

He ended the call.

“Claire, Maria prepared the guest suite next to Ethan’s.”

“I don’t need a guest suite.”

“You’re not sleeping on a couch.”

“I didn’t ask—”

“Please.”

I stopped.

Adrian Mercer had just said please.

Ethan noticed too.

His eyes widened dramatically.

“Dad said the magic word.”

“Go watch your dinoNextrs.”

“You said Claire can watch.”

“I said she’s staying home.”

“That means dinoNextr rules.”

Adrian pinched the bridge of his nose.

I covered my smile.

Twenty minutes later, Ethan was curled against my side in the family room while a documentary narrated the violent death of a prehistoric predator.

I lasted seven minutes.

Then I fell asleep.

When I woke, a blanket covered me.

The television was muted.

Ethan was gone.

And Adrian sat across the room in an armchair.

For one terrifying second, I thought I had slept through an entire day.

“What time is it?”

“Ten-fifteen.”

I sat up.

“Where’s Ethan?”

“Breakfast with Maria.”

“I’m supposed to—”

“You’re not supposed to do anything today.”

I pushed the blanket away.

“That isn’t how employment works.”

“Then consider it paid leave.”

“You don’t give paid leave.”

“I do now.”

I stared at him.

“What happened?”

He leaned back.

“The account Vincent found wasn’t created by billing.”

“Who created it?”

“A private administrator.”

“Meaning?”

“Someone paid Riverview for information about you.”

The room went cold.

“What information?”

“Your work schedule. Emergency-contact details. Copies of forms you submitted for Lily. Dates you visited the hospital.”

I stood.

“No.”

“Claire.”

“No one cares when I visit hospitals.”

“Someone does.”

“I’m a nanny.”

“You work for me.”

The words settled between us.

That was the first moment I understood.

This might not have started with Lily at all.

It might have started with Adrian.

“Are you saying someone targeted my sister because I work here?”

“I’m saying I don’t know yet.”

“You think they did.”

“I think assuming otherwise would be irresponsible.”

My stomach twisted.

I walked toward the window.

“You should fire me.”

“No.”

“If someone is using me to get information about you—”

“They didn’t get anything.”

“They got enough to know where I am.”

“That means I protect you better.”

I turned.

“You can’t protect everybody.”

His expression became unreadable.

“No.”

There was history inside that single word.

His wife.

Ethan’s mother.

I had never asked exactly how she died.

People whispered that her death had been the reason Adrian became the man everyone feared.

Before that, he had been dangerous.

Afterward, he became untouchable.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

He knew what I meant.

“Don’t.”

The door opened.

Vincent entered carrying a folder.

Behind him was Marcus Reed, Adrian’s head of security.

Marcus had once scared me so badly during my first week that I dropped an entire bowl of soup.

Two years later, he brought me birthday cupcakes.

That was life inside Adrian Mercer’s house.

Everything terrifying eventually became complicated.

“We identified the administrator,” Vincent said.

He placed a photograph on the coffee table.

A woman in her fifties.

Blond hair.

Pearl earrings.

I knew her immediately.

“Deborah Klein.”

Three heads turned toward me.

Adrian’s voice changed.

“You know her?”

“She works with Caldwell.”

“How do you know that?”

“She interviewed me.”

Silence.

Marcus leaned forward.

“For what?”

I swallowed.

“About six months after I started working here.”

Adrian became perfectly still.

“She approached you?”

“At the hospital cafeteria.”

“And you never told me.”

“I didn’t know it mattered.”

“What did she ask?”

“Normal things.”

“Claire.”

I searched my memory.

“She asked where I worked. Whether I liked the job. Whether Ethan was difficult.”

Adrian’s jaw hardened.

“What else?”

“She asked whether you traveled often.”

Marcus muttered something under his breath.

I continued.

“She asked whether there were a lot of guards at the house.”

Adrian stood.

“You answered?”

“No.”

His shoulders loosened by half an inch.

“I told her I wasn’t comfortable talking about my employer.”

“And then?”

“She smiled.”

I remembered it now.

Too clearly.

“She said she admired loyalty.”

Vincent’s expression darkened.

“And?”

I looked at the photograph again.

“She told me loyalty was expensive.”

Nobody spoke.

My skin prickled.

“At the time, I thought she meant working long hours.”

Marcus looked at Adrian.

“She was testing her.”

Adrian nodded once.

“When did the billing problems begin?”

I counted backward.

My stomach dropped.

“Three weeks later.”

Adrian turned toward the window.

The quiet became dangerous.

Vincent opened the folder.

“There’s more.”

“Of course there is,” I whispered.

He removed another sheet.

“Deborah Klein resigned from Riverview yesterday.”

My pulse kicked.

“Why?”

“She didn’t resign,” Marcus said.

“She disappeared.”

Adrian turned slowly.

Marcus continued.

“Her apartment was emptied overnight. Vehicle abandoned near Thirty-Fourth Street Station. Phone destroyed.”

I looked at Adrian.

“What does that mean?”

“It means she knew we were going to start looking.”

“How?”

He didn’t answer.

He didn’t need to.

Someone inside the hospital had warned her.

Or someone inside Adrian’s organization had.

Before anyone could continue, Ethan appeared in the doorway wearing dinoNextr pajamas and holding two plastic swords.

He studied all four adults.

“Are you doing serious faces?”

Marcus immediately relaxed.

“No, sir.”

“You are.”

Ethan walked straight to me and handed me one sword.

“Claire is on my team.”

I took it automatically.

Adrian looked at his son.

“Ethan, we’re working.”

Ethan raised his sword.

“So are we.”

Marcus turned away to hide a smile.

I looked down at the five-year-old who trusted me more than I deserved.

And suddenly the fear inside me changed shape.

If someone had targeted me because I worked for Adrian, leaving would not automatically protect Ethan.

It might do the opposite.

I tightened my hand around the plastic sword.

Adrian watched me.

“I’m not quitting,” I said.

Something flickered in his eyes.

“I know.”

“You sounded very confident.”

“You’re stubborn.”

“So are you.”

“Yes.”

Vincent cleared his throat.

Marcus stared at the ceiling.

Ethan whispered loudly, “Dad likes you.”

My face went hot.

Adrian looked at his son.

“War room. Now.”

Ethan grinned.

“I knew it.”

And as he dragged me from the room to fight imaginary dinoNextrs, I glanced back.

Adrian was still watching me.

But he wasn’t smiling.

He was staring at the hospital photograph.

At Deborah Klein.

At the woman who had disappeared hours before he began asking questions.

And for the first time since I’d known Adrian Mercer, I saw something beneath his control that frightened me more than anger.

Guilt.

Because whatever was coming toward me—

he believed it had started with him.