hloe jerked back from the toilet bowl. Eleanor Sterling's heels c

wung open. Chloe

r-streaked face, the hand still pressed to her mout

e preg

nd went bl

weeks. The fatigue. Slipping out of meetings. Julian mentioned you've been sick." Her l

e been under stress. I

y to trap their way into this family. The sudden illness. The strategic timing. You're all the same." She

pregnant.

Eleanor's grip tightened. "There

go of

m door swun

his frame blocking the corr

guish. "Julian! Thank God. This girl-I believe she's pregnant. I caught her

oug

hadn't left Chloe. His pupils had contracted to

. I am not pregnant. I've been sick for weeks

. His jaw was s

. "Let's take her to a doctor. If she's te

nd he had scooped Chloe into

, put m

cut through. "My aunt

at her fists against his chest-like hittin

red mistress like evidence to be disposed of. Then the executive e

e said again, quieter.

did

crete. Gasoline. He bundled her into the Maybach's back seat

acy screen rose. Chloe scrambl

to a hospital because

ith my father's mistress when I was twelve. The woman wasn't pregnant. It didn't matter-my father threw her

m telling

re telling

if I'

He didn

nished, faces a careful mix of deference and fear. Chloe was escorted to an examination room. The

he waiting area. Julian was pacing. Eleanor

pregnant. Acute gastritis, likely from prolonge

his shoulders released-barely percep

scanned the page. Bitter disappointm

anor met her halfway, voice a venomous whisper. "Don't think this c

closed around Eleanor's wrist. His grip lo

h. Go home, A

most afraid. Then she yanked free, shot Chloe a loo

Julian toward the

her arm.

gged me here. You believed her. Fo

n't de

. "Take me home.

lence. The Mayb