Chapter 1: The Man Who Said Drive
The first thing I lost was my shoe. The second thing I lost was my belief that my husband’s family would ever protect me.
Jillian Bannon did not remember when the black heel slipped from her foot. She only remembered the cold gravel tearing into her skin as she ran through the October darkness, one hand gripping her phone, the other holding the truth that could destroy an entire family.
Behind her, the iron gates of the Bannon estate stood open.
A mistake.
A terrible, expensive mistake.
“Jillian, stop!””
Dean Bannon’s voice echoed across the driveway.
She did not turn around.
“Jillian!”” another man shouted.
“Nobody is trying to hurt you!””
That was the sentence that made her run faster.
Because they believed it.
They truly believed locking her in a mansion, taking her phone, and forcing her to reveal Cody’s location was somehow reasonable.
They were not monsters in their own minds.
They were family.
And that made them worse.
Her phone screen flashed.
Three percent battery.
No messages.
No calls.
Patrick was still two hours away. Cody was somewhere safe with his grandmother in Pennsylvania. At least, Jillian prayed he was.
She reached the end of the driveway and saw headlights approaching through the trees.
A black Lincoln Navigator slowed beside the road.
She did not check the driver.
She did not check the license plate.
She only saw an open rear door.
Jillian pulled it open and fell inside.
“Please drive.””
Silence.
The kind of silence that made her finally look up.
Her breath stopped.
Across from her sat Emmett Carbone.
For twenty years, the Carbone name had been spoken carefully inside Bannon homes.
Sometimes with anger.
Sometimes with fear.
Sometimes with a strange kind of respect.
But never casually.
Emmett Carbone was not what Jillian expected.
No flashy jewelry.
No expensive watch.
No dramatic entrance.
Just a silver-haired man in a charcoal coat, sitting calmly as if a terrified woman bleeding on his floor was merely an unexpected change to his evening.
His eyes dropped to her injured foot.
Then they moved to the men approaching the vehicle.
Dean reached the door.
“Mr. Carbone.”” Dean forced a smile.
“This is a family matter.””
Emmett did not look at him.
He looked at Jillian.
“Do you want to go back with him?””
The answer came before she could think.
“No.””
The door locked.
Click.
Dean’s expression changed.
Not anger.
Something colder.
Emmett turned forward.
“Drive.””
The Navigator moved.
The Bannon estate disappeared behind the trees.
Only then did Jillian realize she was shaking.
Emmett reached beside him and handed her a folded white handkerchief.
“You’re bleeding.””
“I’m fine.””
“You’re not.””
She pressed the cloth against her foot.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Emmett asked, “What did you take?””
“Nothing.””
“Money?””
“No.””
“Documents?””
“No.””
His eyes narrowed.
“Then why were three grown men chasing you?””
Jillian stared out the window.
“They think I know where Cody is.””
The name changed something.
Barely.
But she saw it.
“Patrick’s son?””
“Yes.””
“How old?””
“Sixteen.””
“Where is he?””
Jillian looked at him.
“I’m not telling you.””
Unexpectedly, Emmett nodded.
“Good.””
Her eyebrows tightened.
“Good?””
“A person who gives away a child’s location to the first powerful man who asks is a person I don’t trust.””
The words caught her off guard.
“You know my family.””
“I know your family.””
“That’s different.””
“Yes.””
The Navigator moved through the city lights.
Emmett studied her carefully.
“What does Malcolm Bannon want from a sixteen-year-old boy?””
Jillian swallowed.
Twelve days earlier, she would not have known how to answer.
Twelve days earlier, Cody’s biggest problem had been remembering his school schedule.
Then Shawn Bannon died.
And everything changed.
“He doesn’t want Cody to do something,” Jillian whispered.
Emmett waited.
“He wants Cody to become someone.””
“Who?””
Jillian closed her eyes.
“The same man everyone in that family pretends they buried.””
Emmett’s expression hardened.
“Who?””
She opened her eyes.
“His father.””
A long silence filled the car.
Then Emmett quietly said one word.
“Impossible.””
Jillian looked at him.
“That’s what I thought.””
The Navigator continued into the night.
But neither of them noticed the motorcycle following three cars behind.
And neither of them knew that by morning, every powerful family in the city would know one thing:
May you like
Jillian Bannon had escaped.
And she had escaped with Emmett Carbone.
