Prologue
Her life was over.
Lila Underwood stared out the window at the blur of English countryside with that one thought rolling through her brain over and over. The gentle hills dotted with sheep and other farm animals didn’t seem to register with her. She couldn’t focus on anything at the moment. Her entire life had become a puzzle with missing pieces. Her father would be so disappointed in her. He had told her to always pay attention to the smallest of details.
But a dead man couldn’t be disappointed.
“Your grandmother is ecstatic to see you,” the man sitting next to her said.
She turned to look at him. Samuel Smith. He had been there for her family’s burials. Not her grandmother. Not anyone else. She couldn’t have her friends with her. Just her, Sam, and a ton of protectors.
He had kind eyes. Blue and they sparkled when he spoke. He had been nothing but compassionate since she’d met him. He treated her as if she were breakable. What he didn’t understand was that a person like her didn’t break. It just wasn’t allowed.
“Let’s not fool each other, Mr. Smith. If she cared, she would have been at the funeral.”
Those kind eyes widened. “You think she didn’t come because she doesn’t care?”
She nodded and looked outside the car once again. It was a fancy car. Leather seats and a privacy screen. Her grandmother had more money than God. At least, that is what she’d heard her father say. A sob clogged her throat, but she pressed her lips together and fought it down.
“I thought you knew why she didn’t come.”
“I assumed. You know that Judith Eddington doesn’t explain herself.”
He grunted, telling Lila that he did, indeed, know her grandmother well.
“I told her she should come, but…”
The hesitation pulled her attention away from the scene beyond her window.
“What?”
“What do you know about your family? What your parents did?”
“Did? You mean the fact that they worked for the CIA? I know that.”
“What about your grandmother?”
“She’s rich and just hangs out in that fancy house.”
Her mother had always called it The Manor. Pain pierced her heart just thinking about her mother. Her smart, beautiful mother was gone. As was her brother, Adam. He had been so excited about his upcoming soccer game. Her father, mother, and brother had left her. Not by their choice, but it still felt as if she had been abandoned.
“I see.” He studied her and sighed. “Your grandmother can’t travel that far. At least not at the moment.”
She frowned. “Is she ill?”
“No. It’s dangerous for her to travel.”
Interesting. Of course, it could all be BS. She’d heard one of the guys in her Algebra class use that phrase. She shrugged and looked out the window once more.
“I’ll talk to her for you. Make sure you understand why she couldn’t attend. I’ll make sure everything is right as rain before I head back home.”
She said nothing, because nothing in her life was ever going to be right again. They drove up the road to the massive house that her grandmother lived in. Lila had been here before. It still stunned her that she would be living there now. As the driver pulled up to the massive set of stairs that led into the house, the door opened and her grandmother stepped out.
It had only been six months, but her grandmother looked older…smaller. Lila understood. Her world had imploded just like Lila’s had. When the people you loved most in the world were killed, your world shrunk into a dark hole.
“Are you ready, Delilah?”
She glanced at Samuel again. He was offering a gentle smile. Tears burned the backs of her eyes, and she blinked to force them away. A girl with her background didn’t get to cry.
