Free BREAKING STEELE (A Sarah Steele Thriller) by Ellie Aaron; Ann Patterson

in Snow White, looking out over her kingdom.
    “Miss Steele.” A tall woman with brown hair and a slim figure greeted me. I recognized her voice from the phone call.
    “Yes?”
    “Come this way. Miss Williams will see you now.”
    I followed the secretary back to a tall, smooth, white door. She opened it and let me pass. The room beyond was huge, white, and blinding. Tall floor-to-ceiling windows were on one end and a simple glass desk sat in the middle of the near-empty room. Sitting behind the desk was a tall, blonde woman; she stood up and held out her hand.
    “Miss Steele?”
    “Miss Williams.” We shook hands. Her fingers were as soft as rose petals.
    I sat in a high backed chair and tried to keep my hands from shaking. She had pure skin; big brown eyes; a lithe, athletic figure; and hair that fell in glistening curls around her shoulders. Her outfit was unique, a pencil skirt with an asymmetrical hem and a jacket with curious blue buttons. It fit her like a glove. It looked as if it had been made for her. After gauging her appearance, I had to concede, she really was the fairest in all the land.
    “I want to start off by saying that I can in no way discuss my father’s case without my lawyers present.”
    “I understand,” I said. Taking out a notepad I pretended to take a note. There had to be something in this glass house I could throw at her;something I could learn that would help me. I decided to shoot for the moon and make a fool of myself. People did not take fools as a threat, and might say more than usual. “We are not interested in him so much as his brother. Glen, is it?”
    Hannah grinned but it was not a nice smile. “I am not sure where you got your information, but my father was an only child.He does not have a brother.”
    I didn’t say anything, just waited. Staying perfectly still, I just looked at her with a clear expression. Most people can’t handle it. She couldn’t, and spoke again.
    “So this visit has nothing to do with my father?”
    “No, it has to do with Glen and you.”
    “Me? What does any of this have to do with me?”
    “Because no one can work as closely with someone as you have with your father and not recognize something is off.” I kept my voice steady. “Now I know you don’t want to testify against your parent, no child does.” Color rose in her cheeks at the word child. “But can you tell me anything about his lifestyle that will give us a stronger case?”
    “No,” she said.
    “Why are you keeping his secrets?” I prodded.
    “I’m not keeping secrets,” she said, and the lie was evident in her voice.
    “Then give me all the information on the employee who filed an abuse claim against him,” I said.
    She broke my gaze, and picked up her pen. She doodled a figure eight on a note. My gaze shifted to the words on the note. I read it upside down. It looked like RuSat 11. It didn’t make any sense to me.
    Hannah finally spoke. “I was betrayed. In the most personal of ways. Everything I knew about my father, about my life, about the world … is a lie.” She looked at me, her eyes sad. “There’s no recovery from something like this. My foundation is crumbling. When people look at me, they don’t see me. They see the spawn of a monster. So I’d like to get what normalcy I can back in my life.”
    I nodded in understanding. I knew quite a bit about betrayal. And about parental units being criminals. But I couldn’t leave with nothing.
    “So who is Heather Dade?”
    Hannah stood up and said curtly. “This meeting is over.”
    “Miss Williams, a good way to bring peace into your life is to help others along—”
    “This meeting is over, Miss Steele!” Hannah pushed a button on her desk and a moment later two guards walked in and I stood. Guards? She must be more jumpy than she let on.
    “Very well. If you change your mind, here’s my card.” I left one on the table. “Hope you find the normalcy you’re looking for.”

Chapter 21
    ON MY