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CHAPTER ONE

Steeling herself against the January chill, Caroline Degraff stood outside the gates of the Los Altos Hills et in

Her grip tightened on the wrought iron fence separating her fron but never lived in Caroline guessed that she would already be visible on the property’s security footage Too late to turn back now from this crazy idea to show up unannounced

Prepared to deceive the husband she’d once loved

But she had to know the truth about the powerfulenclosure dotted withcao but hadn’t seen since their honeyul Damon McNeill Her father, a well-known investor in Silicon Valley projects, had hated Dae He’d sent Caroline into Damon’s California-based social media software business, Transparent, as an entrepreneur in residence—a common practice in tech start-ups that could benefit from an outside business perspective—in the hope she’d find weaknesses Damon’s investors could use to oust him from the CEO position Except Caroline had fallen in love with Da report he’d craved

She hadn’t known until that time in her life how cold and manipulative her father could be He’d called Caroline a traitor and refused to attend the wedding, preventing anyone else in her fa so, as well That had hurt her deeply, but she’d been so in love with Daether in Italy for their honeymoon had been the happiest days of her life

Then she’d travelled briefly to London on her own after the honeyot fuzzy in her ued with Damon on the phone because she’d seen her father while she was in London But she also re San Francisco Bay She’d never even seen Da not to notice too many details of their new, custoot ho out over the Bay, she’d heard him enter the house

Only it hadn’t been him After that, her memories of the ordeal were totally blurry But she knew that day had been the beginning of a htmare She’d been kidnapped and held for a ransom Damon never paid He’d never infor; the story was absent from all the news sites she’d scoured online

Grinding her teeth together, she felt the old signs of fear and claustrophobia, the racing heart and cold sweats These were the physical sy for weeks to overcoood therapist She still wasn’t able to shake the effect of weeks spent scared and alone, captive in a reuards who treated her huet that they would kidnap one of her younger siblings, too, if she didn’t do as she was told

Thoughts of Da with the co inside her A child she hadn’t even been able to tell him about before the abduction

“Ma’aht iron fence, ate “Can I help you? Is the call button acting up out there or is the ?”

Her heart thumped so fast and so hard she couldn’t speak for afelt frozen while her pulse rate skyrocketed and the guy with aclippers, came closer

Who would ever believe she had graduated with honors froraue to answer a siuess she’d helped her investor father to make millions on the two other tech start-ups she’d recommended he buy, back before her life fell apart?

These days, Caroline didn’t even trust her memory of what happened yesterday, let alone last year She’d been drugged a few ti her captivity with roofie-style pills that made past events fuzzy Between that and vicious bouts ofsickness, her health had been in serious decline by the time her captors rowed her out to a reh food for a s hadn’t har for help When she’d regained enough strength to do so, just two months before her due date, a fisherman had found her and contacted her father