The Unwanted Substitute's Desperate Runaway

e a slow, suffocating d

agement company-a subsidiary of Harris Corporation, she now realized with sickening clar

The landlord of your apartment just called. He's a

ographs on the walls-years of her life, her passion, her soul-an

ors, anyone who might throw her a lifeline. The responses were all the same

s necklace. It was barely enough to cover Lina's fina

e was packing the last of her equipment into

, her voice

. "Mr. Harris requests your presence at hi

dead before sh

e knew what this was. It was not an invitation. It was a summons. He had cru

her stomach. The tiny life inside her was the only reason she h

hadn't sold, called a cab, and gave the driver the addres

the darkness at the end of a long, tree-lined drive, was a mon

rnous hallways to a study on the second floor. Eliot was standing at the wi

when she ente

e a choice," Amara

tired face, her worn dress, the way she held herself ri

agreed. "

her, each step measured, predatory. Am

"My apartment. You're t

st obvious thing in the world. "Did you think y

our proper

h that she could smell the whiskey on his breath and the familiar, expens

clenched. "Wha

whenever I call. In exchange, your studio lease is restored. Your apa

er survival. The humiliation was a physic

efuse?" she

ng. The studio. The apartment. Any chance of working in t

he wasn't bluffing. He could

ade bile rise in her throat. She thought of the baby. She thought of what kind o

chin and met

his gaze-surprise, perh

r voice steadier now.

e front door. She didn't stop walking until she reached the end of the long drivew

money. No allies.

ow, that