athe for a ful
Her forearms were smooth. No cigarette burns. No white, puckered circles from the
e sink with shaking hands an
wor
13th. Six
wrist until it hurt. It hurt
exact day she found out s
et to the floor, both hands over her flat stomac
ever his father's car pulled in, just to catch a glimpse of him. Who never once dared to say the word Daddy o
en so weak
quietly, if she paid for her mother's sins a
they took his eyes
this
and stood up. In the mirror, her amber eyes
r it took. Her son would not be born a dirty secret locked in a back
of t
'm getting th
ened t
ic's lake house the way a warden runs a prison, and last time she had made Ivy's life hell
Doris snapped. "I thought you'd
t now, Doris. Remember? Dominic ha
me. Because of your little escape attempt, Ta
lked p
t you dare act like the lady of the house. Mr. Pierc
been hearing those words si
he coast road above Puget Sound and died. The woman in the car with him was Evelyn Hart, Ivy's mot
for twenty years. Inside the Pierce and Shaw households, though, everyone knew exactly whose daughter she was. Grandma June raised her on a farm in Montana unt
Pierce Holdings, Richard had put something in Ivy's drink at a
ffering. A paymen
. Every day she spent at this lake house was anothe
is was on her list. She
ed exactly what happ
e hadn't wanted to give that monster a child. So she threw
ead and a concussion. The baby was fine. No
o punish her, he made one phone call and had
ICU that week. She died t
the staircase and looked
asn't going to
n't going t
ng on the bathroom floor, she had sent a text
Cel
gnant.
he gravel driveway.
nd the staff downstairs chirp
Her heels cracked up the m
face photographers fell in love with. The Shaw family's gol
ce was twisted in
leste hissed when she
and smiled. "You don
s out of her skull. Ivy could practically hear what she was thinki
r. "Did I ask you to
scurri
y said. "She's not the one
g her hand a
her wrist
ars of scrubbing floors and carrying a child on her hip had
" Celeste spat. "A murderer's daught
r lips nearly touched Celeste's ear, and drop
y, I'm going to take it all. The Pierce name. Your place in the Shaw family. Your career. Ev
he first time in her life, Celes
r turned
ll ne
s hands slammed
around her stomach befo
ainst her shoulder, her hip, her hea
ircase, hands still stretched out in front of her, and e
chi
nes
ght, and every
eyes again, every in
nd money. Pierce Memorial, the private hospital Dominic
an Cole, chief of surgery, Dominic's best friend since boar
n. But there's a complication." Pa
minic's voice. Lo
e ice water. Her finger
s pregnant, Dom. A
was so heavy she could h
hed softly. It wa
d. "A woman with a child is
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