e St. Regis in midtown Manhattan blazed with crystal chandeliers. Gordon Caldwell adju

e thought back to the cold warning he had given Re

mother's disputed shares to Sloane," he had told her. "Once the Caldwell-Vaughn merger closes, the original records fro

ed daughter had left to offer the family company. Reyna had merely looked at him

a powerful man to rescue her. The medical records and authorization documents attached to the agreement had revealed tha

tire arrangement directly within her reach. If Reyna could keep Conrad alive and persuade him to use his veto, she could st

latives in a single transaction. Reyna intended to

, his face beaming as he announced the deep strategic all

's arm, tilting her chin up to soak in the c

neck-right where Reyna's fingers had dug into her skin hours earlier. Within

s, angry, swollen red hives broke out across her neck

as her fingernails raked violently across her

arm out of her grasp, stepped back half a pace, and turned to walk briskly out the side exit whi

st the windshield of the ordinary black SUV stoppe

d his knuckles hard against the rear w

Conrad is in critical condition

slapped the court-stamped marriage ce

hrough the wind. "I am Conrad Vaughn's legal wif

egistration. Sneering, he pressed the transmitter on his belt to roll the iron

rad hasn't opened his eyes in four days. The house do

feur, rolling the window stra

stopped before a looming Gothic manor. Only a single

s. The grand entrance hall stood completely empty; a few maids lingered in the dark sh

heading straight for the closed double doors of the master suite at the end of the hall. H

wait for the

cold gaze locking onto him until

edroom door open. A thick, nauseating stench of rubbing al

ze concealed the burned left side of his face, while an IV line disappeared beneath the sleeve of his black pajama shirt.

far above the dosage recorded on the medication chart. A half-empty syringe lay uncap

ession s

ion running. Conrad was not simply dying. Someone

ed toward Conrad's throat to check his carotid pulse when the hand

ak-but unmistak

ises that should have been clouded and unresp

closer. When he spoke, his voice was s

hem sent you to