Isla Calloway had never trusted her mother.
Not when she was a child seeking approval.
Not when she was a woman fighting for power.
And certainly not now, when Catherine Calloway stood before her, offering help that Isla didn’t ask for—help that might come at an unbearable cost.
"If your father finds out the truth—"
"You won’t get another chance to lie."
Catherine’s words had lingered long after she left, sinking into Isla’s skin like a slow-acting poison.
Now, as the night stretched on, Isla was running out of time.
Her father thought Lucas Reyes was dead.
The moment someone checked for a pulse, they’d know he wasn’t.
And when that happened?
The real hunt would begin.
Catherine leaned against the doorframe, watching Isla with the calm patience of a predator who already knew ho
