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m agony, sharp and tearing, t
mach, pressing down on the flat, empty space beneath the silk of her nightgown. But thee was seared onto the back of her eyelids: the blinding surgical lights, the frant
old. Final. "The chi
wasn't in a hospital. She was in the master suite of the Cooper estate. Sunlight stre
tal calendar on the night
art st
ee years. Three years before the
o the full-length mirror, her reflection a ghost she didn't recognize. The face staring back was you
eal. She
. A voice from dow
he guest cottage ready
mo
grand staircase and struck her like a physical force, knocking the air from her lun
t think.
ded, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. She s
he sa
usband, Damon Cooper. He was shielding a woman. A small, frail
in M
huddled against Damon, her shoulders trembli
as a look she knew well from the end. Cold. Wary. He shifted his body slightly, a subtle, protective movement th
Accused. Thrown a vase. She had played the part of the hysterical wife perfe
this
oft skin of her palm, the sharp, grounding pain a welcome anchor in the swirling chaos
He was waiting for the
warmth. "Jasmin lost everything. She'll be staying with
. She walked onto the cool marble of the foyer, each step a deliberate act of
a few feet
Bishop," she whispered, her voice a fragile
nd the manufactured fear. In her past life, that look had goa
mall, polite no
icipated. The silence stretched, thick with his confusion.
e looked directly into his cold, gray eyes. "It's
ts measured and calm. "Moira," she called, her voice
by the dining room entrance with a si
prepared for Miss Myers. See th
y. Even Jasmin couldn't hide the flash of surprise that crossed her fac
itchen, her back straight and rigid. She could fee
her knuckles white. She leaned her forehead against the cool plaster, dragging in a desperate breath. The air fel
at table again. She wou
olently she could barely grasp a glass from the cupboard. She filled it with ice water from
ting stran
s leaning against the frame, arms crossed,
k. She didn't turn to face him. "I've just
but Jasmin's voice, frail and needy,
am
and walked away, leaving her a
. Her hand drifted to her left ring finger. She twisted the heavy diamond wedding band, rou
r fingers surprisingly stead
he typed: "Top divor
he first one, a woman with a reputation fo
ered over the
resse
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