The car stopped, and it was too early for the shopping center to be open, but a man in a great suit stood outside waiting. “I promise, and I’m sorry for stewing in silence.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll whip you into shape once I get you alone again.”

Chapter Two

“Do you know what my father used to say about failure?” Nicola Antakov asked Nina Garin. Nina had been the only one her father had trusted with the fact she was still alive, and she was the one who’d come and told Nicola the news of their deaths.

“No, ma’am.” Nina put her teacup down and maintained eye contact.

“It’s a sign of weakness. You show weakness and the world will finish you off.” The apartment in Trump Tower was beautiful and a gift from her father, but it had become a prison. No matter how beautiful the bars.

“There was no way to know that Casey would double-cross Mr. Antakov and your mother. That’s more a lack of honor than a failure,” Nina said, as if knowing exactly what she wanted to hear. “But to be fair, I can’t prove Casey had anything to do with this. From what your father reported, she’d agreed to help them.”

“I don’t believe that, so don’t insult me by repeating it. It’s time to join the land of the living and get what’s left of my family back.” She’d been living as Crista Belchex for the last year and a half, and she’d used the time to heal. It was no lie that the plane carrying her and her twin, Fredrick, had gone down, but death wasn’t in the cards. “I refuse to let my children grow up not knowing me.”

“We need to shore up our support before we can do that,” Nina said, clicking her mouth closed when she seemed to realize she’d overstepped.

“What did I just say about failure?” she screamed. The pain that shot from her jaw to her right temple made her stop and breathe deeply. There were certain injuries the doctors had told her wouldn’t go away, and the nerve damage she’d sustained was something she could do nothing about. The other most noticeable souvenir the accident had left her with was her limp. “Damn.”

“The family lost plenty of ground when your cousin gave over all the ledgers. Please don’t take that as an insult—it’s fact.” Nina didn’t stand but did appear wary. “She’s never been found, and your aunt Yula is worried about her sons.”