Reborn Heiress: The CEO's Lethal Obsession

m open, a sliver at a time. The world was a blur of gray. A raw wind scraped it

d, but a searing pain shot through her neck. She sucked in a sharp breath

istine tweed suit, a pop of Chanel pink against the decaying ba

hed down, her perfectly manicured fingers gripping Aria's chin. The pressure was immense, her nails

leather handbag. "A formality," she said, her tone light, as if they were discussing the weather. She tosse

tterhead: Carlisle Group. A

's throat. "You'll always be a t

. The slap was so fast Aria didn't see it coming. The crack echoed

h and spat it onto the concrete near Blair's e

The mask of elegant society girl fell away

liquid. It caught the dim light, glowing with a terrible beauty. Aria's hear

smell her cloying floral perfume. "It's a new synthetic. No tra

sty iron chair scraped and groaned against t

hand on each of her shoulders, pinning her with brutal efficiency. The weight was

inside of Aria's arm. A frigid fire began to spread through her

a fist full of thorns. Each beat was a spike of agony. Her breathing be

m, the edges darkening as

her phone. She held it

copter, half-submerged in the dark, churning waters of the East River. The Sterlin

under assault, seeme

confirmed that Julian Sterling IV, CEO of Sterlin

blow. It shattered the last of her

ty. "He ignored a direct order from air traffic control. Took a rout

the wind, everything. Julian. Cold, possessive, tyrannical Jul

mind. The unspoken thing she'd always seen there, the thing she'd been too afraid to

clipsed everything else. The fire in her veins was nothing compared to the inferno of her sel

e flew from Aria's lips. Aria lunged forward, a primal, useless instinct

the word bubbling up wit

xpression now bored, dismissive

t was all her li

y clear. She saw Julian's face, felt his hands on her,

clumsy attempt to protect her. To keep her safe in a world he knew was full of predators l

with the blood

er heels clicking a death knell on the concrete. The mercenaries

, Aria w

ne was a new kind of pain. Her consciousn

rds were a silent scream

t believe in. If she had another chance, just one more chance, she would b

the darkne

s ocean with no floor, no shore, no sound. She sank into it like a stone, and

at boundless nothin

ep in ash - the kind that looks dead until the wind finds it. It pulsed once. Twice. Each pu

ds but in fragments. Bro

had always found her in a crowd, certain and unapolog

lick. Walking away from what she had done as i

It was different from the rage she'd felt strapped to that chair. That had been

d let them. She had fought on their terms, by their

r ag

mber

h will. A wordless, ferocious declaration pressed outward against the dark: not yet.

And in the shifting, something that had be