Before the Bracelet Was Found, the Family Had Already Decided Who to Blame

Claire slipped into the master suite on the second floor of the villa. It was a massive room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the moonlit ocean. She stepped into the shadows near the walk-in closet, drawing her silenced 9mm.

She knew Eleanor wouldn't scream. Eleanor wouldn't alert the cartel guards. If the cartel knew the woman who destroyed their pipeline had infiltrated the villa, they would burn the whole place down, and Eleanor along with it, just for being a liability. Eleanor had to handle this herself.

Five minutes later, the bedroom door clicked open.

Eleanor stepped inside, closing and locking the heavy wooden door behind her. She was breathing heavily, her eyes darting around the dark room. She reached into her sequined clutch and pulled out a small, silver derringer.

"Show yourself, Claire," Eleanor demanded, trying to keep her voice steady. "My guards are right downstairs."

"Your guards don't care about you, Eleanor," Claire’s voice floated from the darkness.

Claire stepped out from the shadows, her weapon aimed squarely at Eleanor’s chest. The older woman gasped, raising her tiny gun, but her hands were shaking.

"Put it down," Claire commanded softly. "Or I will paint this beautiful Egyptian cotton with your brains."

Eleanor swallowed hard, slowly lowering the derringer to the floor. "How did you find me?"

"You're predictable," Claire said, stepping closer. "You think you're a mastermind, but you're just a parasite living off other people's blood. Your husband's dead. Your empire is gone. And now, I’m taking the only thing you have left."

Eleanor lifted her chin, recovering a fraction of her venomous pride. "You don't have the stomach to kill me in cold blood, Claire. You're a middle-class designer. You aren't a killer."

"You're right," Claire said smoothly. "I'm a mother. Which makes me capable of much worse."

Claire reached into her pocket with her free hand and pulled out a small, blinking digital audio recorder. She tossed it onto the plush king-sized bed.

"I want the truth, Eleanor," Claire demanded, her voice hardening into steel. "I want to hear you say it."

"Say what?" Eleanor sneered.

"David," Claire said, the name catching slightly in her throat. "He was going to turn you in to the FBI. He found the ledger. He was going to expose the cartel, and he was going to expose you. What did you do?"

Eleanor stared at Claire, her eyes glittering in the moonlight. She let out a dry, hollow laugh.

"He was weak," Eleanor spat, her facade finally cracking, revealing the pure, unadulterated monster beneath. "He was my flesh and blood, and he was weak. He cared more about 'morality' than legacy. He told me he was going to the Bureau on Monday."

"So you had him killed," Claire whispered, her finger tightening on the trigger.

"I had his brakes cut!" Eleanor hissed, stepping forward, her face twisted in rage. "I gave him everything! The best schools, the trust fund, the firm! And he was going to throw it all away and put his own mother in prison! I did what had to be done to protect the family!"

The silence that followed was deafening, save for the crash of the waves against the rocks outside.

Claire looked at the woman who had murdered her husband, the woman who had framed her daughter, the woman who had destroyed her mother. She felt the heavy, seductive pull of the trigger. It would be so easy.

But then Claire looked at the audio recorder on the bed. The red light was blinking steadily.

"You didn't protect the family," Claire said, her voice eerily calm. "You destroyed it."

Suddenly, the heavy bedroom door splintered. A hail of bullets tore through the wood, missing Claire by inches.

Eleanor screamed as the door was kicked open. The cartel lieutenant stood in the doorway, an assault rifle raised, two guards flanking him.

"Did you think we wouldn't monitor the security cameras on the upper floor, Señora Hale?" the lieutenant growled, his eyes fixed on Eleanor. "The bosses know you’ve been compromised. You brought the FBI’s favorite whistle-blower right to our doorstep."