ingdom. All of Manhattan, sprawling and glittering, lay at his feet.
it did
of the previous night. The feel of her skin, the sce
wave of nausea. For the first time since he was a child, a woman's touch h
rface of his massive redwood desk. Tap.
nock. Only one person in th
ethoscope slung around his neck like
plopping down in the chair opposite the desk. "Canc
his friend with his iciest glare.
n," Burleigh stat
e sharp focus of a physician. "Touched? What do you mean, touched? What part of her?
ng through the barrage of questio
uinely stunned. He stroked his chin, his mind clearl
somatic, rooted in deep trauma. It can't just disappear. Who was s
of discussing Kelsey. She was a complication,
r. Vincent Hayes entered, silent and efficient
ary background che
his brow furrowed. "Wait a minute. Isn't y
tten it into the contract himself. But seeing it spelled out, and hearing Alek voice the connection aloud, only sharpened the cold fury
nd DMV-style photo, was a study in defiant beauty. Below it was her personal information, and
this is a New York high-society scandal in the
izing she had signed the agreement despite being bound to his nephew, fueled his contempt. He felt played. A woman who would climb from his nephew's bed to his, a calc
e desk, the sound a sharp
he one woman in the world who doesn't make you break out in hiv
, a strange light d
in the Hamptons. You said there was a girl. A girl who helped
ht. The crash. The pain. And a girl. A faceless, nameless girl with a soothing voice a
" Burleigh snapped, b
citement palpable. "Could this Kelsey Costa..
bility. He had never connected the two events. One was a fleeting moment of
was
ing the internal phone. H
nce
ir
his voice tight with an urgency he rarely displayed. "Where she went to schoo
ed the p
back. He stared down at the city, but he wasn't seeing it. He was seeing a
is? A coincidence? Or a brilliantly orchestrat
erce and unfamiliar,
e was. He didn't care
was an enigma
s going t
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