served the Knowles family for thirty years, and if

like it belonged in a private study, not in the middle of a

voice thin. "Anna, I really

om a passing tray. She took a slow, deliberate s

ned in close to Alta. "Just do it, get it over with," h

think his girlfriend couldn't follow a simple order.

wide with disbelief. He was supposed to b

refusing to meet her gaze. He was already dista

e grabbed the sides of her short skirt, pulling them down as f

dder w

in the crowd. It was followed by a

hs, exposing more skin with every step. She tried to press her knees togethe

r knuckles white. "Almost there," she w

came out of pockets and clutches. The flashes were bli

sion blank. She felt nothing. No guilt, no symp

tched her arm out, her fingers brus

to reach further. The m

The bright flash of a camera illuminated her exposed skin for a split secon

hand flying down

y off. The ladder tilted violently to the left

her start to fall. His instinct took over, but it wasn't the

ing up to shield his expensive

ilently peeled away from the main floor, using the service stairs to flank her position, melting into the shadows of the upper ba

odded

burst mode. He wasn't capturing the fall. He was capturing the lo

saw the cold, hard le

" she shrieked, h

er her exposed skin, but it was a fatal mistake. The sudden shift in weight m

rashing to the floor w

aping against the edge of the cham

echoed through the room