o the leather chai

Crying was a physical response to pain, and at this moment,

hone and connected

highly encrypted cloud drive. When the progress bar reached one hundred percent, she titled the f

e air burning her lungs, a

d-silent room, each ring a hamm

ant and imperious, with a sharp edge of impatienc

the Montgomery family. Since Denice had walked out eight year

imand. "It's over betw

. Denice could picture her mother perfectly: one perfec

a faint, unmistakable thread of satisfaction.

s ago, you mentioned a business arrangement... a marriage allia

amily. Kings among New York's new money, their power was immense,

o handle," Eleanor said slowly. "Are

is name and his resources, Mother. As for affectio

orld of business. "Very well," she replied briskly. "I'll make the arrangements. Vince

a profound, hollowed-out exhaustion. Her relatio

omputer, scrolling through A

benefactor" for the scholarship that allowed her to finish her d

ro taking a short course at Yale around the same time. She had e

ng with this woman. She took a screenshot and saved it to a new, enc

ed to the floor-to

r finger. The diamond Jairo had given

row it. She d

nto the back of a drawer, where it landed with

ed over her. She walked into the bedroom. J

ed, conservative clothes she'd bought to s

e very back. It was the only piece of couture she had brought with her

shimmering, dark blue silk, embro

sonal assistant. "Chloe, have all of my clothes a

the bathroom and began

ing over her skin, as if it could cleanse he

airo and Alyssia, and the boy named

piness. She would make them pay the s

phone lit up. A new email not

ith Mr. Collins. F