Chapter 2 - THE BILLIONAIRE IN HIS KITCHENDaniel didn’t open the door.
Not immediately.
Lily was sleeping upstairs, and seven black SUVs surrounded his house.
That fact mattered more than any number attached to Grace’s name.
“Tell them to leave.”
Grace stared at him.
“They won’t.”
“Then tell them to back away from my house.”
“Daniel—”
“My daughter is upstairs.”
Something shifted in Grace’s expression.
She picked up the phone.
“Marcus?”
The answer came instantly.
Grace’s voice changed.
Gone was the frightened woman Daniel had brought home.
“Move everyone across the street. Weapons concealed. No one enters this house unless Daniel Carter invites them.”
A pause.
“I don’t care about protocol.”
Another pause.
“That’s an order.”
Within thirty seconds, the front porch was empty.
Daniel stared.
“You really are her.”
Grace almost laughed.
“Unfortunately.”
Daniel opened the door.
A tall Black man in his late forties stood at the curb. His posture suggested military training.
“Marcus Hale,” Grace said. “Head of my security.”
Marcus looked at Daniel.
“You found her?”
“Technically Lily found her.”
Marcus glanced toward the upstairs window.
Then something unexpected happened.
He held out his hand.
“Thank you.”
Daniel shook it cautiously.
“What happened to her?”
Marcus looked at Grace.
Grace answered.
“Someone tried to abduct me.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
She told him about a charity dinner two nights earlier.
Her regular driver had supposedly become ill.
A replacement limousine arrived.
Ten minutes into the trip, Grace noticed they were headed west instead of north.
She demanded they stop.
They didn’t.
At a red light, she opened the rear door and ran.
Two men followed.
She lost her shoes climbing through a construction site.
She hid in an abandoned building overnight.
The next morning, she discovered her phone and wallet were gone.
Daniel frowned.
“You could’ve walked into any police station.”
“My kidnappers knew my exact schedule, my vehicle rotation, and my security procedures.”
“You think it was somebody close to you.”
“I know it was.”
Marcus nodded.
“We located the substitute driver's body yesterday.”
Daniel stopped breathing for a second.
“Body?”
Grace’s eyes hardened.
“He wasn’t my kidnapper. He was another victim.”
Suddenly, Daniel’s tiny kitchen felt far too small.
He glanced toward the stairs.
“You’re leaving.”
Grace nodded.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
The word hurt her more than Daniel intended.
But Lily came first.
Always.
Then footsteps sounded upstairs.
Lily appeared wearing unicorn pajamas.
She looked through the window.
Her eyes became huge.
“Daddy!”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“So much for sleeping.”
“Are we famous?”
“No.”
“Is Grace famous?”
Grace crouched.
“Apparently.”
Lily pointed outside.
“Are those your cars?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you need seven?”
Marcus coughed to hide a laugh.
Grace whispered, “I ask myself that constantly.”
Lily studied her.
Then her face became suspicious.
“Are you secretly a princess?”
“No.”
“Movie star?”
“No.”
“President?”
“No.”
Daniel handed Lily his phone.
She stared at the article.
Her mouth fell open.
“One hundred billion?”
Grace winced.
Lily turned toward Daniel.
“Daddy, she can fix the roof.”
Marcus actually laughed.
Daniel didn’t.
“We’re not asking Grace for anything.”
“I know. But the bucket in the hallway is annoying.”
Grace looked at Daniel.
“What bucket?”
“Nothing.”
Marcus’s gaze moved to the ceiling, where an old water stain spread above them.
Daniel folded his arms.
“Don’t.”
Grace raised both hands.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking loudly.”
For the first time since he’d found her, Grace genuinely smiled.
By sunrise, reporters discovered the SUVs.
Daniel’s quiet street became chaos.
Cameras.
Satellite trucks.
Neighbors recording from windows.
Someone shouted through a megaphone.
“EVELYN! WERE YOU KIDNAPPED?”
Another yelled:
“WHO IS THE MAN INSIDE?”
Daniel looked through the curtains.
“This is insane.”
Marcus handed him a tablet.
“It gets worse.”
Photos had already appeared online.
Daniel outside the hotel with Grace.
Daniel helping her into a bus.
Daniel walking beside Lily.
A headline read:
MYSTERY MAN HID MISSING BILLIONAIRE OVERNIGHT.
Another:
ROMANCE OR RESCUE? WHO IS EVELYN STERLING’S SECRET STRANGER?
Daniel nearly dropped the tablet.
“Secret stranger?”
Grace rubbed her forehead.
“I hate the internet.”
“You hate it? Your company owns part of it!”
“A very small part.”
“Your small part is probably worth more than Illinois.”
“It’s complicated.”
“No. Compound interest is complicated. This is nuts.”
Lily sat at the kitchen table eating cereal.
“Daddy said nuts.”
“Thank you, Lily.”
“You owe the swear jar.”
“That wasn’t a swear.”
“It was emotional.”
Grace laughed.
Daniel pointed at her.
“Do not encourage her.”
For ten strange seconds, they felt almost normal.
Then Marcus entered.
His expression erased the laughter.
“We have a problem.”
Grace stood.
“What?”
“Someone leaked the address before we arrived.”
Daniel frowned.
“The reporters?”
“No.”
Marcus placed photographs on the table.
A dark sedan had been parked two streets away at 4:11 a.m.
Its plates were stolen.
“We believe whoever tried to take Ms. Sterling knows she spent the night here.”
Daniel immediately looked upstairs.
Marcus continued.
“They also know you and your daughter helped her.”
Daniel’s chair scraped backward.
“You said your people surrounded the house.”
“They did.”
“Then how did someone photograph us?”
“We don’t know.”
Daniel stared at Grace.
“You brought this here.”
Her face crumpled.
“Yes.”
Marcus began discussing relocation.
A secure hotel.
Private guards.
Temporary safe housing.
Daniel barely heard him.
He looked at Lily.
Rebecca’s last words in the hospital returned to him.
Take care of our girl.
He had promised.
And Daniel Carter did not break promises.
“We’re leaving.”
Grace nodded.
“I have a secure residence outside the city.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not with you.”
“Daniel—”
“I’m taking Lily somewhere nobody knows.”
Marcus spoke carefully.
“Your relatives?”
“No.”
“Friends?”
Daniel paused.
Grace noticed.
“You don’t have anywhere.”
“I’ll find somewhere.”
She stepped closer.
“Please come with me.”
“I don’t want your money.”
“This isn’t about money!”
For the first time, her voice broke.
Everyone stopped.
Grace lowered it again.
“You protected me when you thought I had nothing. Let me protect your daughter now that I have something to give back.”
Daniel looked into her eyes.
He wanted to refuse.
Then a loud crack exploded outside.
The kitchen window shattered.
Marcus tackled Grace to the floor.
Daniel threw himself over Lily.
Men shouted.
Security rushed toward the street.
Lily screamed against Daniel’s chest.
A hole appeared in the wall behind them.
Not a bullet.
A small metal cylinder.
Marcus stared at it.
A message was wrapped around the tube.
He picked it up with gloved hands.
Grace read the single sentence.
Her face went white.
Daniel took it.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT HER ON THE STREET.
He slowly looked at Grace.
She wasn’t looking at the threat.
She was looking at Lily.
And for the first time Daniel understood something terrifying.
May you like
Whoever wanted Grace Sterling wasn’t finished.
Now they wanted him too.
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