Julian was waiting in the back of a nondescript sedan three blocks away. He looked hollow, his shoulder bandaged properly now, but his spirit seemed frayed.

"You didn't talk," he said as she climbed in.

"I saw Sarah," Elara replied, her voice trembling with rage. "How much did Vanderbilt pay her to sell me out?"

"Enough to buy a new life," Julian said grimly. "We can’t stay here. The press is at the estate, the feds have a wire on my accounts, and Vanderbilt is moving for a hostile takeover of Vane Industries while I’m 'distracted.'"

"Where are we going?"

"Paris," Julian said. "My family has an old vineyard in the Loire Valley. It’s off the grid. It’s the only place we can decrypt the ledger without being traced."

"And after that?"

Julian looked at her, his glacial blue eyes softening for the first time. He reached out, his thumb brushing the pulse point on her wrist.

"After that, Elara, I give you the evidence to put me away. I’m going to finish what my father started—one way or another. But I won't let you be the collateral damage anymore."

As the private jet cleared the runway, Elara looked down at the shrinking lights of the city. She was flying toward a foreign country with a man she should hate, carrying a book that could end him.

The "Glass Contract" was shattered, but something far more dangerous was taking its place: Loyalty.