Chapter 5

I whipped around, and the moment I saw my daughter, my heart nearly stopped.

Her gown had suddenly burst into flames, set off by a stray spark from the stage's cold-fire fountains. The fire roared up and swallowed her small body in an instant!

I threw myself at her like a madwoman and beat at the flames with my bare hands. A second later, my own palm caught fire.

Dawn screamed. "Mommy! It hurts!!"

Nathan grabbed me. "Boss, don't touch it! That's magnesium powder! No water — we need a fire extinguisher!"

He turned to go find one, but the guards blocked him.

I tore savagely at my daughter's burning gown. If I could just get it off her, she'd be okay.

My palms were burning, and I couldn't feel it.

Just as I was about to pull the last of her gown away, Brie yelled, "Move! I'll save her!"

I looked up. She was holding a fire hose, grinning at me with pure malice. "Ma'am, I'll help you put out the fire!"

"No!!" The high-pressure stream came straight at us, and I threw my body over my daughter by instinct.

The instant the water hit, the magnesium fire flared up with a roar, and my daughter let out an inhuman scream in my arms.

Nathan shouted in fury. "Magnesium flares up when it hits water! That's basic chemistry! You did this on purpose!"

Eden took the hose from Brie's hands and kept spraying us. "Oh, so my daughter tries to help and now that's a crime?"

She swept her eyes over the crowd and raised her voice. "Everybody, you be the judge!"

The onlookers started in at once.

"Exactly. The kid was trying to help. How could that be on purpose?"

"People these days have no conscience!"

But my daughter's gown had been caked with magnesium powder. There was no way she'd done that to herself.

I tore her ruined gown off and flung it into the corner, and it was still sputtering, throwing off white-hot sparks!

The water that followed put out the flames on me and on Dawn.

The moment Eden realized she'd helped, she tossed the hose aside.

Cold water mixed with blood ran off us and pooled on the floor in a dark red stream.

I pulled off my shirt, the last thing I had left, and wrapped it around my daughter. The fabric soaked through with blood instantly.

The broken bones in her arms were exposed and caked with mud. I didn't know if we could save her hands.

I lifted my face, streaked with blood and tears, and stared at Eden and her daughter.

"You'd better pray my daughter is okay. If she isn't, I'll make every one of you wish you were dead."

Eden let out a scornful laugh. "You're about to die, and you're still trying to scare people! My husband will be here any minute. Watch what he does to you!"

The crowd stirred.

"Is it really the head of the Sterling family?"

"I heard Mrs. Sterling had a nickname before she got married, the Reaper of Wall Street. Now that someone's crossed her, those two probably won't make it out alive."

Someone even whispered advice to me. "If you ask me, you two should just leave now. Forget the money, or it'll cost you your lives."

Seeing me stay silent, Eden lifted her chin, gloating. "Scared now? Too late!"

"The second my husband gets here, crushing you two will be as easy as stepping on an ant. Let's see if you stay stubborn!"

"Then let him come," I cut in, calm.

Just then a rumbling roar rose up, and three Rolls-Royce Phantoms swept in, flaunting their power.

The doors opened. Yale stepped out, his tall frame framed by a dark wall of bodyguards behind him.

"Daddy!" Brie ran to him, delighted.

Eden's eyes lit up too. "My husband's here. Just you wait!"