The Substitute Bride's Lethal Secret

x seal on her laptop screen when her burner

n lit up with a self-destructing

thirty-six-character dynamic passcode. The

hrough on Lillian Kensington's c

hone. Her fingernails dug so hard into the plastic casing she thought it

er eyes to k

families in River City. The Montgomery family

ced to the window, grabbing the edge of the blackout curtain and peeling it back an inch.

the wreckage, blood pouring from her mouth, her cold hand gri

n in her hand. A seco

om the underground

photograph. It showed an ancient, smooth j

s contracted

ingle day of her life. It was a sacred relic, rumored to possess mi

sper's text continued. Starting

Her thumbs flew across

on't care what it takes. I am ge

ptop. Her fingers hammered the keys, launching a brute-for

list populated

ted in gold, was a single

razor-sharp smile. Her dying fiancé

ver to the closet and pulled out a false bottom panel. From th

lat against her skull, and pinned it up under a dark, nondescript wig. She grabbed a contouring palette, using deft, practiced strokes of dark makeup to artificially sharpen her jawline, hollow out

t. She strapped a binding vest over her chest, flattening her curves entirely, before slipping on the crisp

of her face and jammed a dark baseball cap low over her eyes. She cleared her throat, physical

hat echoed in the bathroom was d

with a predatory gleam. She looked exa

e wiped the laptop, erased all her di

glass pane up. The cool night air rush

, her body twisting like a cat. She grabbed the thick metal drainage pipe attached to the

the manicured hedges, easily bypassin

ck of the property, scaled it in three fluid movement

icense plates sat idling in the sh

pen the passenger door. She s

handed her a heavy, black-and-

n blinking at her male appearance. "Funds

her fingers. She stared out the windshie

isguised voice vibrating with lethal