Chapter 3 The Rat

I didn't text Sarah back.

I called her. Straight to voicemail. I called again. Voicemail. The third time, it didn't even ring. She had blocked my number.

I sat in the dark of my office, the city lights bleeding through the glass. My phone sat on the desk, face up, the message from that unknown number burning into my eyes. Let's talk.

Sarah had been my assistant for two years. I hired her when I was still living in a cramped flat in Brooklyn, before the inheritance, before I took back my father's name. She had been there when I got the call about his plane. She was the one who held my hand at the funeral. I had trusted her more than I had trusted Julian.

And she had been selling me out the whole time.

I picked up my phone and dialed Marcus.

"It's late," he said. Not annoyed. Just a fact.

"Sarah's not a pawn," I said. "She's working her own angle. She just sent me a message. She wants to talk."

Marcus was quiet for a second. "That's a problem. If she has copies of the records, she can sell them to anyone. Julian. Victoria. The press."

"I know."

"What do you want to do?"

I looked out at the city. Somewhere out there, Sarah was sitting in a cafe or a hotel room, waiting for me to panic. She probably thought I would offer her money. She probably thought I was scared.

I was scared. But that didn't mean I was stupid.

"I want to meet her," I said. "But on my terms."

The next morning, I found Sarah at a small cafe in the Village. I didn't tell Marcus I was coming alone. He would have stopped me. He would have sent three men and a car with tinted windows. But I needed to look at her face. I needed to see if the woman who had held my hand at my father's funeral was still in there somewhere.

Sarah was sitting near the back, sipping a cappuccino. She saw me walk in and her hand froze halfway to her mouth. She was wearing a pink sweater I had bought her for Christmas. That was a strange detail to notice. But it was all I could see.

I pulled out the chair across from her. I didn't sit down. I just stood there with my hands flat on the table.

"Thirty seconds," I said. "Tell me why."

Sarah swallowed. She put her cup down. "Julian offered me a lot of money. More than you ever paid me."

"I paid you a fair salary. I treated you like a friend."

"You treated me like your servant," she said. Her voice was flat. "I fetched your coffee, Elena. I booked your flights. I listened to you cry about your marriage. And the entire time, you never told me who you really were."

I stared at her. "That's why? You're angry I didn't tell you I was a billionaire?"

"I'm angry you didn't trust me." Her voice cracked. Just a little. "I was loyal to you. I turned down two better jobs to stay with you. And you kept me in the dark about everything. Your father. The inheritance. All of it. You treated me like a stranger."

I sat down. My legs felt weak. "So you sold me out to Julian."

"He paid me a million dollars," Sarah said. "That's more than I'll make in ten years. And you had billions. You had billions and you never gave me a bonus. Not once."

The anger hit me like a wave. "I was trying to survive, Sarah. I was trying to hide. If I had given you a bonus, if I had started acting like a rich woman, people would have asked questions. Julian's family had spies everywhere. I couldn't risk it."

"You could have trusted me." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "You should have trusted me."

I didn't answer right away. Because she was right. I hadn't trusted her. I had spent three years keeping everyone at arm's length. The only person I had trusted was Julian, and he had thrown me away like a dirty shirt.

"I should have told you," I said quietly. "I was scared. That's not an excuse. But I was."

Sarah looked at me. Her eyes were red. "It's too late for that."

"I know." I leaned forward. "But we can still fix this. You can still make this right."

She laughed. It was a bitter sound. "You want me to help you? After what I did?"

"I want you to tell me what you gave Julian. Exactly. The records, the doctor's name, any messages you saved. I want you to give me everything."

Sarah shook her head. "If I do that, Julian will destroy me. He'll tell the police I stole the records. He'll have me arrested."

"He'll be too busy fighting me to come after you," I said. "I can protect you."

Sarah was quiet. She looked at her coffee cup. She looked at the window. She looked everywhere except at me.

"I don't know," she whispered.

The cafe door opened. I didn't look up. But Sarah's eyes flicked over my shoulder and her face went pale. She saw someone behind me. I turned around.

Julian Sterling was standing in the doorway. He was wearing a dark suit and a gray tie. He walked over to our table and pulled up a chair.

"This is cozy," he said. "Mind if I join?"

Sarah was trembling. Her cup clattered against the saucer.

"Leave," I said.

"I'm not here for you," Julian said. He looked at Sarah. "I'm here for her. She's been dodging my calls. I'm just making sure everyone remembers our arrangement."

Sarah's hands were shaking. "I told you I would give you the records. I did."

"And your little messages to Elena?" Julian's voice was soft. Cold. "I saw them. Next time you play both sides, you should use a burner phone."

Sarah stood up. Her chair scraped against the floor. "I want out. I don't want any part of this anymore."

"You're already in," Julian said. "And if you leave, I call my lawyer. You stole those records, Sarah. That's a crime."

Sarah looked at me. She looked at Julian. She looked like a cornered animal. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out a small black flash drive. She dropped it in the middle of the table.

"Take it," she said. "I don't care what happens anymore. I'm done."

She grabbed her coat and walked out. The door swung shut behind her. The cafe was silent. I looked at Julian. He looked at me.

And then he reached for the flash drive.

I put my hand over his. "Don't."

Julian smiled. "Elena, it's over. I have the drive. I have the records. And after Friday, I'll have my company back."

I looked at him. I looked at the flash drive. I looked at the door Sarah had walked out of.

"No, Julian," I said. "You don't."

I pulled my hand away. I stood up. And I dropped my phone on the table, screen up. The recording app was still running. Seventeen minutes and forty-two seconds.

Julian's face went white.

"You've got nothing," I said. "And by Friday, everyone will know it."

I walked out. The door closed behind me. I made it three steps down the sidewalk before my phone buzzed in my pocket. It was Marcus.

Julian's lawyers just filed emergency custody papers. They're naming you an unfit mother. Court date is tomorrow morning.

I stopped. I looked up at the sky. The city kept moving. The cars kept honking. The people kept walking. And Julian Sterling was still trying to take my baby.

But he had forgotten one thing.

I had never lost a fight in my life.

And I wasn't about to start now.