Returning from a classified military assignment, I found my five-year-old daughter kneeling on the cold floor. A strange woman stood over her, saying, “This is the only way spoiled children learn.” She didn’t know I was a special operations officer, and she was about to find out…
that the sharp crack of impact echoed off the vaulted ceilings like a gunshot.
Vanessa shrieked, staggering backward. Grant spun half a rotation, his polished shoes slipping on the marble as he crashed heavily into the console table. He clutched his rapidly swelling cheek, his eyes wide with profound, unadulterated shock.
