ella

palm. He didn't holster his weapon, but the immediate threat of

of the burning guest wing. He looked at me not as a trembling victim, but as a ne

ien murmured, his deep voice cutting effortlessly

seemed to reach out and swallow his imposing frame. Without a single sound, the deadliest man in

had just made a deal with the devil. The board had irrevocably changed; my enemies were no longer just the pathetic Ma

nched rapidly

s sharp and focused. "The foyer is a madhouse. Carmella is losing her mind

ruined, soot-stained fabric of my gown. I buried my terror deep

ying into a chilling resolve. "The show is starting, a

ve arm around my waist as we navigated the

hicago. Shards of crystal from the shattered chandeliers crunched underfoot, mixing with spilled champagne and b

carrying a makeshift stretcher. On it lay Hoy Casey, his f

er. The woman on it was unconscious, her expensive party gown shredded to

ar, vicious

man. Blinded by her own desperate need for a scapegoat and her preconceived plot to frame me for her own sins, she didn't lo

stretcher and shrieked at Catarina Casey, her

d your husband here! She betrayed my son, betrayed the M

Catarina's eyes, burning with the promise of a bru

ched the matriarch of the Marshall