The Billionaire Broken Heiress

oked differ

as the one w

n shine bright below like broken glass. Somewhere out there, in one of those high

d to destroy

ter than it used to be, eyes harder. I barely recognized the girl I ha

ot to depend on Love,

d the night m

ounded through the phone I'd left on t

. My new life. A ghost wear

nnett Foundation Gala five hundred of New York's elite crammed into the Plaza,

would b

e Ru

, in the Wall Street Journal, on the covers of magazines that treated

idea what he

e real

d expensive, containing nothing but lipstick, a fake ID, and the

y way dow

rystal like frozen tears. I moved through the crowd with practiced ease, smiling at strange

t. Orphan. No

ful woman in a room

I wasn'

ghter of the most powerful mafia famil

eared at my elbow, hand extended. "Richard Chen. I he

alk, nodded in the right pl

anning t

the one face

him, my heart

things that probably weren't funny. He looked older sharper somehow, like someone had t

s still beauti

st more than most people's rent. Presence that made every

listening to whatever the

en he

hing s

My heart.

ing flickered behind those gray eyes recognition, may

ogantly. Held his ga

raid of yo

asted bit

walking. Not toward me. Not away. Just... moving through the crowd w

inst my throat and i

nd. Disappear into the cr

here for th

sta

sical thing low, controlled, wrapped in sil

r. He smelled like heaven, he was the kind of man who'd learne

eting for the first time. Like his fingerprints weren't s

d. Held it a s

ured. "I thought

mach d

ctly calm. Years of prac

fused with someone el

of my wrist just once, deli

quietly. "I do

e in the room faded to background noise just s

eed

n't a question, it soun

think t

each his eyes. "After all, I'd hate for Ms. Sinclai

ap

it. I

not to think about the last time we'd been this close. The last time

shoulder. We moved together like our bod

y. Just for me. "That's a lo

name in his voic

what you're

le. Almost. "You always were a t

w wh

is breath warm

Because whatever you're running f

ice. I felt like i

g back just enough to look at me, "I'm the o

ning to smoke, burning with

u're going to stop pretending. You're going t

. Slow. D

going to