SHATTERED TIES ACROSS THE GLASS TOWER

Ethan gripped the phone so tightly the plastic cracked beneath his fingers. "Victoria, you died in Athens twenty-five years ago. The maritime wreckage was verified by Interpol."

"Interpol finds what money tells them to find," she answered, a dry chuckle scraping over the line. "Our father traded me to the Leonidas cartel to wipe out his oil-freighter debts, then staged my drowning to keep the Pierce name spotless on Wall Street. You grew up in penthouses while I learned how to run heroin routes through Piraeus."

Ethan glanced at Elena, whose face had gone chalk-white. She had researched the complete genealogical records of the Pierce family during her tenure as corporate secretary; Victoria Pierce was supposed to be a tragic footnote, a ghost from an era of unchecked greed.

"I gave up the company, Victoria," Ethan said, keeping his voice dangerously level. "The shares are in an irrevocable trust for Lily. I have no control over the capital."

"Then you had better find a way to revoke it," Victoria snapped, the veneer of amusement evaporating into jagged hatred. "Because the Leonidas syndicate is done waiting. They want the four billion dollars father promised them in 1998, adjusted for inflation. If the wire transfer isn't initiated from the executive terminal in Manhattan by midnight tomorrow, my contractors will level that coastal village."

The line went dead.

Ethan didn't hesitate. He turned to Elena. "We have twenty minutes before her spotters realize the transponder stopped transmitting. We take the boat."

They packed only essentials into two waterproof duffel bags. Lily clung to her pink backpack, refusing to leave it behind. Ethan led them down the steep wooden steps cut into the granite cliff toward the private cove where a twin-engine offshore vessel sat docked beneath a camouflaged boat canopy.

As Ethan untied the heavy mooring lines, the roar of twin off-road vehicles echoed from the ridge above their property.

Beams of high-powered spotlights pierced the fog, sweeping over the shoreline and locking directly onto the cove. A megaphone crackled through the sea mist.