edge and character," Amara said calml

without triumph, onl

ed to the marble floor. "You're just a paras

the room,

oor. "Catherine, see to your daughter.

under strai

case when Vicky stepped from the s

issed. "You married him to steal Pe

ur business sense is weak. The Beaumont company is over-leveraged. They could not a

d. "How do yo

a thief?" Amara aske

doubt flickered in her eyes. "She said you a

who threw her own stepsister

tanding there and

st suite into a command center. From her bag, she took a slim slate-gray MacBook.

, marked by a stylized tree with geometric roots. It was not a public dashboard but

age ap

nt. Quarterly reports are uploa

typed

iers, design school records. Everything. Also compare her name again

Give me t

s. Here, she was not Judith's daughter or the Beaumonts' unwanted burd

e arr

s port

curve of a clasp, the setting of a stone, the fine filigree work. T

igns. She had stolen Amara's p

rrived. Lab ros

r CV claimed two major projects, but the records sho

ted cre

es into a secure fol

er phone

seated alone at Le Bernardin. The restaurant was empty

me a vo

oured out, swee

ly in that big mansion, married to a hideous cripple who can't even...

istened

did not

EVIDENCE, silenced the phone, and return

arter were

would dea

e had an em

windows, hiding the soft c

ntered in his wheelchair, gliding over the carpet with practiced ease

er, hidden only by fr

His jaw tightened. He had come for a strategic reason

wel. She reached for another to cover her hair, her

around wi

closed around her damp wrist and pu

ed, clutching the

me to the back of her neck, d

e kiss

one shocked second, her body softened before her mind returned.

ust as her breat

age flared in her eyes,

said, catchi

oward a small ven

hey're li

s was another performance. Another move in h

atching her with a smugness that m

n to the Beaumonts for the traditional

. "I can handle

The husband acco

not trad

ing unreadable passed through his e

you

Amara woke to a

cleared. Eight figures. Buyer used a bli

miled f

designed under her pseudonym, Aria. The sale had given

with a black garment bag an

am. From Mr.

Vera Wang gown, severe an

x lay The Sta

opped br

d a fortune for her work and retu

ossession?

It was a weapon, an

e, familiar and heavy. She was no longer the girl in cheap lace. She was

ulletproof blac

and Eleanor Beaumont stood on the steps with Carter. Bella ap

ch turned into

ower swallow

His Wall Street instincts recognized wealt

ur opened t

held thei