Chapter 1 - Blood on Marble

The envelope burst open when Stella Hayes hit the floor, and fifty thousand dollars scattered around Jonah Pierce like confetti at a funeral.

He caught her before her temple struck the marble.

"Boss?" Wyatt Mercer shot out of the booth.

Jonah lifted one hand. "Nobody touches her."

Stella weighed almost nothing against him. Rainwater dripped from her hair onto his white shirt. Her breathing was shallow, uneven, and too fast. A thin line of blood showed at the corner of her mouth where she had bitten it on the way down.

Then her sweater sleeve slipped.

Jonah stopped breathing for half a second.

Four dark finger marks wrapped around her upper arm. Older yellow bruises disappeared beneath them. Another shadow crossed the edge of her collarbone.

He had seen men come into his restaurants after bar fights, debt collections, and bad decisions. These were different.

These marks had a history.

"Call Dr. Velez," Jonah said.

Wyatt glanced at the money on the floor. "What about Keller's payment?"

Jonah looked at him.

Wyatt immediately stopped talking.

Ten minutes later, Stella lay on the leather sofa in Jonah's private office while Dr. Mara Velez checked her ribs. Jonah stood by the window with his jaw tight enough to ache.

"Two cracked ribs," Mara said. "Severe dehydration. She hasn't been eating enough. The bruising is in different stages of healing."

"How long?"

Mara's eyes hardened. "Weeks. Maybe months."

Jonah looked at Stella's face.

Bad makeup covered half a bruise under her left eye. Someone had tried to make sure she could walk into a public place without drawing questions.

Someone who had done this before.

Mara lowered her voice. "She needs a hospital."

At the word hospital, Stella jerked awake.

"No."

She pushed herself upright and immediately gasped.

Jonah moved forward. "Easy."

She saw him coming and threw both arms over her face.

The room went silent.

Jonah stopped so fast the soles of his shoes squeaked against the floor.

"Stella," he said quietly.

Her eyes opened.

Fear filled them before recognition did.

Jonah crouched so he was below her eye level. "I'm not going to hit you."

She lowered her arms by inches.

"Dean is waiting," she whispered.

"Dean Keller sent you here injured, carrying fifty thousand dollars, at midnight in a storm."

"He told me to deliver it. That's all."

"Who hurt you?"

Her mouth tightened.

Jonah didn't move.

"Was it Dean?"

Stella looked away.

That was answer enough.

Wyatt appeared at the doorway holding Stella's phone between two fingers. "Boss. Her phone's been ringing nonstop."

The screen lit again.

DEAN.

Stella went pale.

Jonah held out his hand.

"Don't," she said.

The fear in her voice was sharper than anything Jonah had heard all night.

"If you answer," she whispered, "he'll know I'm still alive."

Jonah's eyes narrowed.

"Still?"

Stella realized what she had said.

And the phone stopped ringing.

A message appeared instead.

Jonah read it once.

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