ella

rgent. I managed to drag myself down the service elevato

ing out the freezing rain. The air was thick with the scent of illicit gin and cigar smoke. I clutched my righ

clenched in a mixture of deep concern and raw fury. He didn't offer empty sympathies;

fingers. Inside lay a h

sed anger. "He said he married you to a stone, hoping your warmth would melt him. That was his mista

ish haze in my mind. I closed my fist around th

y the time I pulled the Cadillac up to the wrought-iron gate

to a tight embrace that smelled of lavender and starched linen. For a fraction of a second, I let

my sweet girl," she wh

wheelchair by the roaring stone fireplace. His body was frail, wrapped in a wool bla

he far wall. "Behi

the hidden keyhole. The heavy steel safe clicked open, reve

,000.00-enough to disappear and rebuild in any city in the world. And f

ical mind, calling my meticulous charting of his illegal empire "cute homework." He had no idea that the ledge

blood," Aurthur rasped, his voice echoing with ancient auth

was still there, but the suffocating chains of fear had shattered

by a desolate, paint-peeling payphone booth on the side of the road. The wind howled throu

red on the

receiver, my voice trembling not from pain, but

over the line before Caden's vo

owt

ve. I needed to return to the Fifth Avenue penthouse one last time to pack my remaining dignity and move my things