Chapter 1 - The Shadow Over The Cradle
I stared at the man who had raised me, my heart hammering against my ribs.
He looked as though he had just seen a demon wearing my baby's face.
"Grandpa, you're scaring me," I managed to choke out.
He didn't look at me.
His eyes remained locked on little Brucie.
"Luke Sterling," he whispered, the name tasting like poison on his tongue.
"Did he ever tell you about his family, Clover?"
I shook my head, confusion battling the rising panic in my throat.
"He said he was an orphan," I replied.
A bitter, humorless laugh escaped my grandfather's lips.
"He is not an orphan," Grandpa said, his voice dropping to a terrifying deadpan.
"He is the heir to the Sterling Syndicate."
I stepped back, clutching my daughter tighter against my chest.
"The what?" I asked.
"They are the most ruthless crime family on the eastern seaboard," he explained.
"And they have a genetic marker."
He pointed a trembling finger at my daughter's mismatched eyes.
"That heterochromia is the absolute proof of their royal bloodline."
My mind spun as the words washed over me.
"Luke left because he didn't want a child," I argued blindly.
Grandpa shook his head with grim certainty.
"Luke didn't run away from you," he corrected me.
"He ran away to protect you from them."
Before I could even process this revelation, a deafening crash echoed from the front yard.
I spun around to look out the front window.
Three black SUVs had just violently smashed through our wooden front gate.
Heavily armed men in tactical gear were pouring out onto the lawn.
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Grandpa grabbed a hidden shotgun from beneath his porch rocker.
"They found the heir," he said, cocking the weapon.
