Page 111 of Secret Heir

He shrugs, clearly thinking I’ve lost my mind. And honestly, I probably have. “Yes, sir.”

He walks toward the driver’s door of the primary SUV, and I head into the garage to get Daniel’s ball.

The garage is dim thanks to the weak early morning light. The backup Escalade sits to the left, and I can see Daniel’s bright blue soccer ball wedged under the rear passenger-side tire. I sigh.

“Danya, we’re going to need to talk about putting your toys away properly,” I mutter as I crouch down beside the vehicle. “And we definitely need to do something about this spider fear.”

The ball is stuck. Really stuck. I try to reach under and pull it out, but the angle is wrong and I’m in a suit I don’t want to ruin.

I sigh heavily and get down on one knee, trying to maneuver my hand under the tire without getting grease on my jacket. “The things I do for this child,” I murmur. My fingers brush the ball, but I can’t get a grip.

“Come on,” I mutter, stretching further.

Behind me, I hear Len climb into the driver’s seat of the primary SUV. The engine is already running. I hear the shift into reverse, the faint sound of the transmission engaging.

My fingers finally close around the ball. Aha. Got it.

The world explodes.

The sound is deafening; a roar that fills the entire garage. The force of the blast hits me like a physical thing, lifting me off the ground and throwing me backward.

I’m airborne for a second before I slam into something hard. The tool bench, my brain registers distantly. Then I’m on the concrete floor, and everything is fire and heat and pain.

The world goes black.

16

ARIA

I’m in Daniel’s room, helping him pick out clothes for the day, when something explodes.

The sound is deafening; a roar that shakes the entire house. The windows shatter inward, glass flying everywhere.

“Daniel!” I scream, throwing myself over him and covering his small body with mine as debris rains down around us.

Something hits my back and pain lances through me. Daniel is screaming beneath me, his cries muffled against my chest.

The explosion echoes and fades and then there’s just screaming. There’s guards shouting and alarms blaring. It’s chaos.

“Are you hurt?” I pull back, checking Daniel frantically. There’s some blood on his cheek from a small cut from flying glass but otherwise he seems okay. “Daniel, are you hurt?”

“What happened?” He’s sobbing, clinging to me. “Mama, what was that?”

I don’t answer because my brain is screaming one thing: Where’s Maksim?

He was going to the car. He should have been⁠—

Oh God. Oh God no.

I grab Daniel’s hand and run down the hallway, glass crunching under our feet. We rush down the stairs, taking them two at a time while Daniel stumbles beside me.

“Mama, you’re hurting me!” he cries out, trying to keep up.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry.” But I don’t slow down.

When I burst through the front door, the scene that greets me is something out of my nightmare.

The SUV is a burning wreck. Metal twisted and blackened, flames pouring from what’s left of the engine compartment. The windows are blown out and the roof is peeled back like something tore it open from the inside.