ustrial outskirts of New York City blurred into a grim landscape of concrete and steel. Ahead, she saw it

to her memory, they were less than two miles from the c

no time fo

mped on the accelerator. The sedan surged forward, weaving past a slow-moving t

ammed on her brakes, bringing her car to a halt

hind it fanned out, boxing her in. Doors flew open and men in dark suit

ds the Bentley's rear passenger window, her heart pounding a frantic rhy

e. She knocked sha

cutting through the tense silence. "Get out of the car. If

ed. Then, the window slid do

s all sharp angles and cold control, his eyes a piercing, intelligent gray that seem

as a low, quiet rumble that carried

s tumbling out in a rush. "What matters is that th

, catching her eye in the rearview mirror. "Ma'am,

g the frantic sincerity in her eyes against the sheer insanity of her claim.

nd moved to put

anked the key from the ignition, and hurled it into the tall grass by the s

One of the bodyguards moved toward

es!" her voi

a vibration she felt in the soles of her f

d turned whit

n. The shockwave hit them a second later, a physical punch of air that rocked the heavy cars and bent

t the pillar of black smoke now dominating the horizon. They looked from the infe

n at the epicenter. This woman, this crazy, scr

open window. For the first time, his expression had changed. The cold assessment was gone, replace

enaline-fueled bravado returning. She

r. Hawthorne. Now, I

ightly, the only sign of his

in the eye, letting the wei

marriage agreement made by our gra

ddle of the chaos, surrounded by the evidence of a disaster she had predicted, s

e, as if he were trying to peel back the layers of her skin

he ordered his driver

ng gray eyes fo

t i