kingdom. All of Manhattan sprawled and glittered at his feet. Usu

it did

t night. The feel of her skin. The scent of

breath. No wave of nausea. For the first time since childhood,

ished redwood desk. Tap. Tap. Ta

t a knock. Only one pe

thoscope slung around his neck like

, dropping into the chair across the desk. "Cance

ed his friend with his iciest gl

oman," Burleig

harp physician focus. "Touched? What do you mean, touched? What part of her? Ho

eigh said. "And n

avily, genuinely stunned. He

psychosomatic, rooted in deep trauma. Can't just disappear

of discussing Kelsey. She was a complication.

entered, silent and efficient,

background check

a? Wait. Isn't your nephew Tr

contract himself. But hearing Alek voice the connection aloud sharpened the cold fury coiling in his ches

otograph. Bland DMV photo, yet defiant beauty sho

s a New York high-society scandal in the ma

, and realizing she'd signed the agreement despite being bound to his nephew, fueled his contempt. A woman who would climb from his nephew's bed

e desk. The sound cracked

e one woman who doesn't make you break out in hives ha

range light dawn

dent in the Hamptons. You said there was a girl. A girl

night. The crash. The pain. And a girl. Faceless, nameless, with a soot

" Burleigh snapped, b

excitement palpable. "Could this Kelsey

He'd never connected the two events. One was a fleeting moment of grace

was

hed the internal phone.

nce

ir

mmanded, voice tight with urgency. "Where she went to school, where

ed the p

back. Stared down at the city. But he wasn't seeing it. He was see

his? Coincidence? Or a brilliantly orchestrat

erce and unfamiliar,

e was. He didn't care

was an enigma

s going t