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w could you hire someone to kidnap m
splitting pain shot through her temples, followed by the cloying scent of lilies and ch
ed her e
n innocence, hovered above her. Her manicured fing
m, the glittering chandeliers, Ciara's crocodile
ing of the end. The day her life had been syst
d been
er. He let the kidnappers disfigure Eveline, break her limbs, and inject her with excruciatin
edo. His handsome face was a sculpture of ice. The look in his eyes wasn't one of concern or confusion
void of any warmth, "I never
e it was being ripped from her chest. She had sobbed, pleaded, tried de
her, the kind of calm that comes after a devastating storm has leveled everything to
cry. She di
with her free hand and began to pry C
stared, momentarily stunned by the dead, unfamil
ing none of the weakness of someone who had just been "rescued." She scanned the room, her ga
nt, mocking smile touched her lips. It wasn
brow furrowed, and a flicker of unease crossed his
ine's voice was clear and calm, cutting t
This was not the reaction anyone had expect
opped, now flowed with renewed vigor. "Sister, what are you
t cut Ciara off mid-sentence. "Don't call m
laundry aired for all of New York's high society to see. Several
ard, his presence commanding. "Eveline, that's en
ing. She looked at him, truly looked at him, for the first time since her awakening. She saw not the man s
whisper, yet every person in the silent hall heard
terics, for begging, for more pathetic denials. He h
t have misheard.
was steady, each word a perfectly formed stone
ossed Ciara's face before she could m
, more frantic. The drama had just escala
the blow. A harsh, incredulous laugh escaped his lips.
e line he'd used to keep
before him was not the
r voice dripping with contempt, "than spe
t was an act of finality, a severing of a bond
that from this moment on, she was t
king toward the grand entrance of
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