oe
heart hammering against my
's leering face, my adoptive mother Sharon's icy stare, the
hing hard, and blinked, t
asn't
on a marble-topped dresser. Sunlight streamed through a floor-to-ceiling window that offered a breathtak
a soft, black silk nightgown that felt sinfully expensive against my s
The chase, the rain, the Aston Martin. T
no
sense of dislocation, as if I had woken up in someone else's life. I walked t
on the door
in. He was in his fifties, with sharp, intelligent eyes and a stern express
ion didn't soften. "You're up. Tak
nstantly. "Who are
said, placing the items on the bedside table. His tone
e again sent a small wave of reli
h the water, my throat dry. "Thank you,
alytical and cold. It felt like h
that made my skin crawl, "I don't know what game you're pla
h heat. I bit down
ed, his words precise and cruel. "The politics of the Sterling Pack are comp
erable points. Disgraced. Omega. He made me sound like a piece
e in my mouth. But beneath
poke, was steadier than I felt. "I'm not trying to entangle anyone
flicker of something-maybe respect,
photographs. Your best course of action is to disappear. Leav
Disappearing was what they wanted.
ive them the
"But first, I need to borrow a phone. As soon as
by my refusal to crumble. He reached into his coat p
," he said, handing it
fingers closing aro
ideas about what you can get from Mr. Sterling," he warned,
leaving me alone in the
nsing fire. It burned away the last of my
. I would not be a victim.
dialed the number I knew by heart.
el
I swallowed, forcing
. "It's me. I'
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