Antoinette let out another sob, her shoulders shaking violently.

I slipped my hand into my pocket and gripped the cold metal of my keys.

The front door was only twenty paces away through the grand foyer.

If I could get to the stairs, I could have Lily packed and in the car in five minutes.

The storm outside would cover the sound of my engine.

I glanced at Grant, who was now gripping the edge of his father’s desk, his knuckles white.

He looked like a man who had lost his mind.

“You’re a monster,” Grant whispered to his father.

“I am the reason you have a roof over your head,” Conrad replied.

He hung up his phone and set it on the desk.

“The wire is sent,” Conrad said. “It is over.”

Just then, the double doors of the study creaked.

We all turned.

The butler stood in the doorway, his face pale and uncertain.

“Sir,” the butler said, looking at Conrad. “There is someone at the gates.”

Conrad’s face was a mask of cold fury.

“Tell her to go away, Higgins,” Conrad snapped.