anchoring her. She had been trembling so violently on the driveway that he had simply taken her elbow and told her, "I'll see this through with you.

as pacing furiously. Kallie sat on a velvet sofa,

hen she saw Kaylee standing there, soaking wet, her face

!" Donita stormed forward. She was so blinded by anger she co

s been waiting in the upstairs guest room for an hour

he had come back at all was the promise Ernest Blackwell made her on the stone steps outside-that he would not

er right hand high in the air and swung it down with all h

's hand rushed toward Kaylee. She squeeze

p never

hoed through the lar

t a blood-cur

r. His massive hand was clamped around her arm like a steel vice

ward. The older woman flew back two meters and crashed hard

cated wrist. Her face was twisted in agony. "How dare you wal

d her mother sit up. Only then did she look up to i

ed on the marble floor. At the exact same moment, the arrogant fury vanished from Donita's face. As a woman who spent her life trying to claw her way in

l?" Kallie's voice shook v

. She looked like she was going to throw up, realizing she had just raised her hand

ogrammed handkerchief from his breast pocket. He slowly and

fabric onto the floor right at Donita's f

e, shielding her completely from their view. His deep vo

ke a hammer. "This woman walked up that driveway half-drowned, barefoot, and too terrified to knock on her own door. I stopped

abbles. I do not care about the old man you've got stashed upstairs. But I have a very low tolerance for cowards w

dn't called her his wife. He hadn't claimed any formal tie. He was simply standing there like a stone for

n't understand. Kaylee is our family. She's just being

The look was so terrifying that Kallie choke

salvage some authority. "Mr. Blackwell, this is a private

try to sell a girl to a predator in exchange for social sta

erstand you are holding property that belongs to Kaylee. A crystal bo

st keeping it safe for her... it's in the study, b

don't, the Fletcher Corporation will enter bankruptcy liquidation at exactly eight o'clock tomorrow morning. I will pers

to-the-cent figures of the

es shattered completely. She