t pierced through the grimy attic skylight

stantly. Her mind

nds of the house below. The floorboards just outside her door cre

n the cold wooden floor without a sound, crossed the small roo

whispering on

voice high and reedy. "Why did the Master bring that

. "It's because of Miss Coretta. Sh

? Abou

room and screamed that she would rather die than marry Bedford Parks. Everyone in Silicon Valley knows what he i

ught the new girl bac

She'll marry the maniac, and Miss Coretta keeps her perfect

t, iron-clad business pact between the Steele and Parks families demanded that a Steele daughter marry the Parks heir. Coretta h

df

vision-the phantom heat of the flames, Bedford's blood-streaked face pressing against her charr

ove

was beating so fast it ached. The maids were calling hi

idea. No i

nited with a dark, manic intensity. He wasn't a monster.

e door, grabbed the brass

jumped back with sharp,

way, her eyes blazing w

anded, her voice a

actically threw themselves down the narrow stairs

e door shut. The

y brass zipper open and dug past cheap t-shirts and worn jeans until her fingertips found the thick seam at t

wrapped tightly in a black opaque garment bag. She stood and laid it o

thrift bin near the trailer park. Using the master-level tailoring skills she had honed as the ghost designer for Paris's top luxury houses in her past life, Ginny had worked thro

black. It felt like liquid obsidian under her skin-a testament to her meticulous

ress on the handle of the rickety wardrobe. She

isted into the branches of ancient oak trees. Caterers were assembling a ten-tier champagne tower. Florists wove cascades of whit

e country rat to stumble down those marble stairs in some cheap, humilia

led into a sharp

wasn't going to survive the banquet. She was going to conquer it. And sh