I think about Ivy saying:she let herself be found.
“You're lying,” I say.
“Am I?” she says.
“My property is surrounded,” I say. “Twelve men. Full electronic security. Nothing gets onto that property without —”
“Mr. Ravenscroft.” Her voice is very quiet. “I have been planning this since I was lying in a hospital bed in Moscow with a machine keeping my heart beating. Do you think I did not account for twelve men?”
My jaw gets tighter.
“What you fail to see is that your wife walked into your family and she struck a match.”
“Ivy had nothing to do with?—”
“Ivy had everything to do witheverything,” she says, and for the first time there is something underneath the composure—not heat exactly, something older and colder than heat. “Because without her you are a careful man. A contained man. A man who manages what he has and does not reach for more. With her,” she opens her hands, “you become reckless. Sentimental. You make mistakes.” Elena looks at me. “She is the reason I amsitting here, Mr. Ravenscroft. She is the reason I have lost so much.”
I realize then that Elena let herself be found because she wanted this room, this conversation, this moment—and the pacemaker. My blood runs cold as I understand that whether I give her the seed phrase or not, whether I agree to her terms or not, the outcome she has chosen is the same. She won’t rest until Ivy is dead.
Right now Ivy is safe at work. But I know that as long as Elena Kuznetsova is alive, Ivy will not be safe.
I look at Henderson. No words. No nod. Just the look—the look of a man who has stood beside me through every version of this moment and trusts me to know what needs to happen.
She sees it. Her hand moves—slowly, deliberately—toward her chest. I see the tiny fracture in her composure. I don’t want her to panic. Easy does it.
“I’ll give you the seed phrase,” I say. “My family’s life is worth more than anything a ledger can hold.”
I look at her face one final time and see only that pale steady certainty that she has won.
I reach for the seed phrase in my pocket and find my gun instead. No one threatens Ivy and gets to live.
I pull the trigger, and chaos erupts. I shoot her twice in the chest and one of the men in the head before the other guards get me in their sights, but Henderson is too fast for them. Elena’s body is limp in her chair, head back. The wine glass has fallen and broken and the red is spreading across the pale carpet.
We are halfway down the corridor when my phone rings.
The grange’s security line. My home, where Brumilde and the baby are.
I answer it.
“Mr. Ravenscroft.” The voice on the other end is controlled but only just. “There's been an explosion. The nursery. We've called the ambulance—it's on its way, sir. I’m seeing three bodies. The ambulance is on its way.”
I freeze, almost dropping the phone.
I’m seeing three bodies.
Thegrange?
“Bodies?” I force out. “Are they alive?”
Another pause. Too long.
“Sir, the ambulance is on its way.”
CHAPTER 16
Hissing Cold Air
IVY
