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corporate level secrecy. Dad insisted nothing about my research leaked beyond the family. Josiah was supportive. Mike called me a nerd. It didn’t matter as long as Dad was proud of me.
     
    “If Mike and Jos get the company when they grow up…” It was the first time ten year old me had thought about it, and my nose scrunched up in confusion. “What do I get?”
    Dad parsed through his papers. “Your brothers were made for the company, Sprout. I needed sons.”
    “Then what was I made for?”
    “I wasn’t expecting a little girl. It’s only proper for the company to go to my boys.” Dad winked and pushed my textbook toward me. “But you like science, and that helps me.”
    “It does?”
    “Sure, Sprout. Daddy has all kinds of people helping to make the corn better before we plant it. You’ll work in the labs and do research.”
    “But I want to be a baker.”
    “Nonsense. It’ll make Daddy happy to have you working hard for the company. Don’t let me down, Sarah. You’re the future of the Atwoods.”
     
    Some future.
    I rubbed my face. I hadn’t drooled on my research journal. Good. The scrawling gibberish? Not so much.
    Half of my notes didn’t pertain to the research I knew would revolutionize Atwood seed and product. Most of the notebook now filled with scribbled leads on what my brothers worked on and where they had tucked or spent so many millions of dollars. Anthony warned we’d be hit with an audit from the Board if we didn’t get it sorted out soon.
    Just the thought of an audit gave me a headache—especially after losing most of my credits last semester because of the funerals.
    My email blipped. Anthony, torturing me after hours again.
    S—Bennett hired a private investigator to research into Josmik Holdings. I’ll find out more, but be careful with information on open networks. –Anthony
    “Good luck.” I closed the laptop. “He’ll need it.”
    Like I had any information about Josiah and Michael’s joint venture. Whatever money they took, spent, or invested was gone. Anthony and I had no success figuring it out.
    But Darius shouldn’t have even known about Josmik Holdings.
    The shiver tingled over me.
    Why would he investigate my brothers’ lost investments?
    He wanted something they had. Something he failed to obtain before Dad died.
    And that something was worth murdering for.
    A crash echoed from upstairs. I checked the time.
    Midnight?
    A door slammed from the ground floor offices. Who in their right mind was working so late?
    I zipped my bag, listening over the clicking pumps working hard to maintain a vacuum for the projects stashed in the corner. The lab existed in a state of pure noise. Chemistry wasn’t all mixing compounds and dissolving solutions. I spent more time waiting for the machines to finish their tests than doing fun experiments. Erlenmeyer flasks were a lot more exciting when I wasn’t washing them.
    I listened.
    Nothing else echoed.
    I hadn’t studied in the lab in a few weeks, but usually no one darted into the offices upstairs in the middle of the night.
    All the more reason to head home. It was way past the time I was comfortable being out alone, especially when the last warnings Dad gave was about my security as I had grown into such a beautiful woman .
    I wasn’t about to think of those implications. Another bump shattered the stillness.
    This time it didn’t come from upstairs.
    This time, the slice of a boot crashed on the stairs just outside my lab.
    The few techs and chemists who used the lab didn’t wear steel tipped boots. They also didn’t lurk in the hallways. And they certainly didn’t take the steps agonizingly slow, clopping a heavy-footed echo in the bare basement halls as though hiding.
    My chest tightened—the worst moment for that to happen. I edged away from the door with a wheeze. The light switch waited under my hand, but drenching the lab in darkness would be just as suspicious as me bursting out of the room in a dead