Jennifer’s POV
Night settled over Croft’s mansion like a heavy blanket. I remained in my mother’s room long after she finished speaking, clinging to her like a drowning woman gripping the only piece of floating wood after a shipwreck. Every word she had told me replayed in my mind like a haunting melody: a deadly business partnership, betrayal, murder, and two powerful men walking free.
But something else bothered me.
“Lucy.”
Her name pulsed in the back of my mind like a bruise I kept touching even though it hurt. I wiped my face, trying to breathe past the grief.
Mom was whispering prayers under her breath when suddenly, a loud knock echoed into my room. Not a normal knock. A hard, urgent thud.
We both startled.
Mom stood up, wiped her face quickly. “Stay here,” she whispered.
“
