My ex-husband’s two sisters broke eleven of my eight-year-old daughter’s bones with a metal bar because she refused to record a lie about me

The door to the consultation room clicked shut behind them.

Jax stepped in, turned the deadbolt, and stood with his back against the wood, his arms crossed over his chest, his cold, predatory gaze fixed entirely on Ryan Sterling.

Ryan sputtered, clutching at Nia’s hand, which remained locked onto his throat like a hydraulic vise. "Nia! Let go of me! Are you out of your mind? I’m the father! I have legal custody while you’re deployed!"

Nia did not squeeze his windpipe shut. She applied just enough pressure to ensure every breath he took required conscious, agonizing effort.

"Where were you, Ryan?" Nia asked. Her voice was terrifyingly calm. "When Tessa was swinging that steel bar into our daughter’s forearms... where were you?"

Ryan’s eyes darted frantically toward Jax, then back to Nia’s face. He saw no mercy there. He saw the same expression he had once seen in a documentary about deep-sea predators—something ancient, hungry, and utterly devoid of human doubt.

"I... I was in the library," Ryan wheezed, tears of sheer panic springing to his eyes. "I didn't know Tessa was going that far! I swear to God, Nia, I thought they were just going to scare her! They told me Elise just needed a little discipline, that she was being stubborn about the video!"

"A little discipline," Nia repeated. She stepped closer, her nose inches from his. "They broke eleven of her bones, Ryan."

"Tessa said we had to have the video!" Ryan sobbed, his aristocratic veneer completely disintegrating into pathetic sniveling. "The trust... Nia, the trust fund has an audit scheduled next month! Morgan took six million dollars out of Elise’s principal to cover bad real estate bets in the Bahamas! If we didn't show the probate court that you were abusive and get permanent full management of the estate, Morgan was going to prison! Tessa said we had to protect the family name!"

"And you let them break your daughter's body to protect your sister’s criminal fraud."

"I tried to stop them!" Ryan cried, his voice breaking into a squeal. "I came out of the library when I heard the first crack! I told Tessa to put the bar down! But... but Tessa threatened me! She said she’d cut me off from the estate, that she’d leave me with nothing!"

Nia stared at the man she had once, in a moment of youthful blindness, believed was a partner.

She felt no hatred for him. Hatred required respect. What she felt for Ryan Sterling was the same mild revulsion one felt when discovering a dead rat beneath floorboards.

"You are going to walk out of this hospital," Nia said, her voice dropping into a lethal whisper. "You are going to get into your car. You are going to drive back to Briarcrest Manor. And you are going to tell Tessa and Morgan that I am here."

Ryan blinked, stunned. "You... you want me to tell them?"

"Tell them I am alone," Nia continued. "Tell them I am just the heartbroken, helpless army clerk they always believed I was. Tell them I am coming to the manor at dawn to sign whatever paperwork they want in exchange for Elise’s freedom."

Ryan swallowed hard, his throat clicking against Nia’s fingers. "Nia... Tessa has private security at the house. She hired Blackwood Tactical—they're ex-mercenaries who run executive protection for the coal executives down in Richmond. If you go there—"

"Tell them," Nia said, releasing his tie so suddenly that Ryan stumbled backward into an examination table.

Ryan scrambled to his feet, smoothing his wrinkled suit jacket with trembling hands, desperate to escape the room. He looked at Jax, who stepped aside from the door with an insulting, dismissive flick of his chin.

"Don't do this, Nia," Ryan stammered, his hand on the doorknob. "You can't beat the family. You don't have the money. You don't have the juice."

"Go, Ryan," Nia said.

The door opened, and Ryan practically sprinted down the corridor toward the elevators, desperate to deliver his message to the sisters who held his leash.

Jax watched him disappear, then turned to Nia. "You're drawing them into their own ground?"

"They feel safe at Briarcrest," Nia said, walking back out into the dimly lit hallway. "They think their gates, their money, and their bought-and-paid-for sheriff make them untouchable. If we hit them on the street, they hide behind high-priced lawyers and procedural delays for the next five years while Elise sits in fear."

Sarah walked up, carrying her Toughbook. "Boss, Sheriff Douglas just arrived downstairs. He brought four patrol cars with him. They're staging in the emergency parking lot. It looks like he got the call that someone cleared his deputies off the fifth floor."

Nia checked her watch. 03:45 AM.