A second text message chimed instantly after the horrific photograph.

The message read: "Unlock the penthouse service elevator at midnight, or she dies."

Chloe dropped the phone onto the carpet as if it had burned her fingers.

Panic seized her throat, making it impossible to draw a full breath.

Her little sister was only nineteen, working at a bakery to pay for college.

The Donati family had tracked Lily down just to use her as leverage.

Victor immediately noticed the pure terror draining the color from Chloe's face.

He asked her what was wrong, his voice dropping into a dangerous, commanding register.

Chloe looked at the man who had just saved her life.

If she opened that elevator door, Donati's assassins would pour in and murder Victor in his sleep.

If she refused, her innocent sister would be executed before morning.

She was just a maid, violently shoved into a game played by monsters.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she lied to Victor's face.

She told him it was just the pain from her wound flaring up.

Victor looked at her suspiciously, but he did not press the issue.

He carried her to the master bedroom and tucked her into the enormous bed.

He told her to rest and promised that no one could hurt her here.

Victor left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

Chloe lay in the dark, watching the digital clock on the nightstand slowly tick toward midnight.

When the clock struck eleven-fifty, she carefully slipped out of bed, ignoring the sharp pain in her ribs.

She crept through the silent penthouse toward the keypad of the service elevator.

Her trembling hand hovered over the glowing red unlock button.

She closed her eyes and pressed it, betraying the man she was falling in love with.

The heavy metal doors immediately slid open with a soft mechanical hum.

But instead of Donati's assassins standing in the elevator car, it was Victor.

May you like

Five minutes after our divorce, I boarded a flight overseas with our two…

THE MAIDS SENT ME TO THE MAFIA BOSS’S SILENT MOTHER TO MAKE HER CRY—BUT…

Graham went pale before I said a word. He recognized the envelope in my…

He stood in the shadows, holding her cell phone in one hand and a loaded gun in the other.

He looked at her with a terrifyingly calm smile and asked if she really thought he wouldn't tap her phone.