f needles the moment she burst through the rear emerg

o rigid, shuddering coils. Behind her, the heavy metal door banged open against brick. Two broad-shou

t her. Eleanor would scrub her existence from the fami

ut of the alley

lt. Twin LED headlights sliced through the downpour like surgical blades, belonging

y for control of New York's financial infrastructure: the Beaumonts. And tha

plagued by severe germaphobia and obsessive control, and notorious for de

the stree

at twenty miles per hour toward Fifth Avenue, s

eee

Continental tires howling against the slick aspha

private security, stepped into the torrential rain, his hand instinctiv

inches. A voice drifted from the interior s

e the obs

was a clinical

mouth of the alley, their hands reaching into

cracked rear window, her soaked fingers gripping the reinf

er brain. "Leave me on this asphalt, and tomorrow morning Chase Sterling and the Carlisles announce a merger that short-

e the vehicle, thi

le," the voice from the shadows replied, dripping with un

Chloe countered, her green eyes blazing through the rain-streak

reaching out to drag Chloe backward by

rs closed on her bare

oo

e fractured the leading thug's nose, sending him sprawling in

slammed shut with a vault-like thud, lockin

de of the wide cabin, impeccably tailored in a bespoke charcoal three-piece suit. He held a linen handkerc

he cleaning fee," Julian said, his glacial gra

burning, her pulse thumping wildly against her throat. She looked at Julian, recogniz

her knees to stop the violent trembling. "Save my reputation tonight

ekbones and eyes as unforgiving as winter granite. "Be careful what you barte