Chapter 1 - The Name That Opened the Gate
Lily knelt barefoot on the pale-stone driveway while the enormous black mastiff approached from inside the château gates.
Alexander stood behind the dog with two guards and warned, “Do not move.”
Brutus stopped one arm’s length from Lily and lowered his broad head toward her open palm.
“Brutus,” she whispered through cracked lips. “It is me.”
The dog closed his amber eyes and leaned into her touch.
Alexander’s face changed.
“How do you know his name?”
“My mother said he would remember me.”
“What was your mother’s name?”
“Elena Hart.”
Alexander removed his coat and knelt.
Elena had been his older sister before the Blackwoods erased her from every family photograph.
“Open the gates,” he ordered. “She is family.”
A silver-haired woman appeared on the château steps.
Margaret Blackwood stared at Lily’s torn dress as if poverty were contagious.
“That filthy child is not entering my home.”
Lily looked up at her.
“My mother said you would say that because rich people fear the truth more than dirt.”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
Alexander found a sealed envelope tied beneath Brutus’s collar.
Across the front, Elena had written:
ALEXANDER, IF LILY REACHES THE GATE, THEY HAVE ALREADY TRIED TO KILL ME.
Before he could open it, Margaret quietly told security, “Take the girl through the service entrance—and do not let her speak to anyone.”
May you like
Brutus stepped between the guards and Lily.
Then Lily whispered, “My mother is still alive.”
