My Ruthless Ex Demands Me Back

e Serenity Meadows Wellness Cen

ed out into the blinding California sun. She blinked

her, pressing a small gift bag into her

a single pi

tandard, hollow s

steps steady, her expression unreadable. Sh

mind-the violent struggle, the feel of hands pressing her down, the

froze, becoming some

landing perfectly in the public trash can by the road. A quiet, calm satisfact

he curb. Her stepmother, Brenda, l

o get back for your father

ger seat. He didn't turn his head, merely grunting from his nose as a form of greetin

mplaining about the time wasted driving all the way out here to get her.

in a blur. Her fingers unconsciously fiddled with a tiny, USB-shaped object in her poc

erfectly average middle-class home in a facele

ide, her father fi

t. "Now that you're out, we've

knew this was just another transaction. She wa

tized everything. "Clean family. With your situation, you'

hung in the air: Do

mask of perfect, placid obedience

le and Brenda visibly relaxed, relieved that the

any personality, as if she had only been a temporary gues

face. Three years of "therapy" had taught her

reflection, was o

table in Aria, a high-end restaurant shimmering w

men laughing, their lives untouched by scandal. This was

ple, unadorned band on her ring finger, a relic of a divorce settleme

private dining room at the back. They moved like a constellation

oment, but the distance was

ouching her lips. It was ridiculous

Ms. Kyra Curtis?"

black-framed glasses stood by her table. Thi

tely, gesturing

in the distant group l

paused, turning his head slightl

the sharp, aristocratic lines of his face and glint

hed in her throat.

Julius

The man who had

es cut across the entire length of the restaurant, landing on

o ice. She was a frog, pin