Chapter 276

The door opened again a moment later. A nurse walked in wearing a surgical mask and carrying a clipboard. The moment the door closed behind her, she pulled the mask down.

It was Ashely.

“How did you get past the guards?” Cailin asked, her shoulders dropping with relief.

“Forged a transfer badge. Kegan’s network is still good for something,” Ashely said, locking the door. “The boys are safe — they’re at the downtown safe house, ten blocks from here. Kegan has them locked down tight.”

“It’s worse than prison, Cali,” Ashely said, pulling a tablet from her clipboard. “Check the news.”

She held out the screen.

English Holdings Stock Plummets 60% in Opening Bell Bloodbath.

“He’s destroying them,” Ashely said. “He’s burning the whole kingdom down for you.”

Cailin stared at the screen. She felt nothing.

“I don’t care about his kingdom,” Cailin said. “Where is Kegan? Why isn’t he here?”

Ashely grimaced. “Hilliard called in a favor with the Department of Homeland Security — a favor so large it probably cost him a future ambassadorship. Kegan’s plane is grounded in Zurich. He’s on a global No-Fly list pending a trumped-up investigation into international arms dealing. Hilliard has the ports watched too, using satellite surveillance. Kegan is furious — he’s trying to arrange private transport via submarine, but it will take time. He’s stuck.”

Cailin sank onto the bed.

Hilliard had checkmated everyone. He had jailed Charla, bankrupted her family, and exiled Kegan.

He had isolated her completely.

“He thinks he can keep me,” Cailin whispered.

She looked at the window. It was sealed shut.

“Get me a phone,” Cailin said to Ashely. “A burner. One he can’t track.”

“What are you going to do?”

“If I can’t leave,” Cailin said, “I’m going to make him fight a war on a front he can’t control. I’m going to make him wish he never kept me.”

Jeraldine Holloway had never begged for anything in her life.

Today, she was on her knees.

“Hilliard, please,” she sobbed, clutching the edge of his desk. “Victoria is calling me every five minutes. They are losing everything — the house, the yachts, the foundation.”

Hilliard didn’t look up from the file he was reading. It was Elia’s medical chart. Severe hypothermia. Potential cardiac damage.

“They should have thought of that before they raised a sociopath,” Hilliard said.

“Charla is my goddaughter!” Jeraldine cried. “I promised to look after her!”

Hilliard slammed the file shut. The sound cracked through the room like a gunshot.

“And you promised to look after me,” he said, his voice dropping to something far more dangerous than anger. “But instead, you brought a viper into my house. You told me Cailin was crazy. You enabled Charla for five years.”

He stood and walked around the desk.

“You are banned from the hospital,” Hilliard said. “And you are banned from my home.”

Jeraldine gasped. “I am your mother! You cannot cut me off!”

“Watch me.” Hilliard pressed the intercom. “Security. Escort Mrs. Holloway out. Revoke her clearance.”

Two guards entered, looking uncomfortable, and took Jeraldine by the arms.

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