The Divorced Gemologist Queen's Glorious Return

ung open, slicing the dim ligh

r hours, the only sounds had been the buzz of the fluorescent light above

red, blocking the light. It was a shape she knew as wel

t had nothing to do with the roo

Dorsey step

d of suit he wore to close billion-dollar deals or attend funerals. His face was carved fr

in the corner. They scrambled to their feet, gathering

of them muttered,

r with a soft click that echoed li

were

ask what was happening, but the words were stu

her shoes making no sound on the linoleum floor. He stopp

ross, his hand clos

usands of times he had held her before. It was the grip of a stranger, imper

nst her ribs, a frantic

loudly against the floor. He didn't look at her. He just started wa

st officers who averted their gazes, past secretaries who stopped typ

night. A black Bentley was idling at the curb, its engin

her neck, before sliding in beside her. The door shut,

ed smoothly

e passing streetlights. She opened her mouth to ask where they were going,

e way to the darker, tree-lined roads of the suburbs. A knot of d

. High iron gates, bearing the Dorsey family crest, loomed in the

sprawling mansion. It veered onto a smaller, unlit pat

aught. She knew w

ugh the leaves. Alessandro got out, then pulled her door open. He grabbed her arm,

her stumble to keep up. They were in the family cemetery,

gainst the deep green of t

t the manicured lawn, marked by a simple, tempora

d a vise on her arm, until she wa

on the engraved letters. Her

E DORS

D PATR

The grandfather she adored, the kindest man she had ever know

against her knees. A sob, raw and ragged, tore from her throat. It couldn

er her, a towering

ce was low, laced with a venom that

rs blurring his cruel fa

he stated, not as an accusation, but as a

rantically. "We didn't argue. Our la

nd pulled out a folded newspaper, tossing it onto the ground in fr

RRIAGE SPARKS FATAL

e words, the world exploded in

Whir.

Figures emerged from the shadows of the trees. Reporter

te moment of grief.

eel the coldness radiating from him. His voice was a whisper,

against her ear. "Admit your 'negligence' in front of the cameras. Or I

t her family, far away, vulnerable. He had th

hich had been held rigid with denial, began to curve. Inch by agonizing inch, she

the dirt on her hands as she forced the

...s

't commit, at the grave of a man she lo

ing-triumph, satisfaction-crossed his features before being replaced by

med, a pack of sha

hat exactly did

ying to get a larger sh

responsible f

re daggers. She

ournalists. They lifted her to her feet, their hands firm but impersonal under

ow. Alessandro was standing alone in front of the tombstone,

t froze her soul, that everything b

sleek, anonymous apartment building she'd never seen b

ant, Julian, was waiting ins

out a thick m

sign this," he said, his v

-