athe for a ful

Her forearms were smooth. No cigarette burns. No white, puckered circles from the

e sink with shaking hands an

wor

13th. Six

wrist until it hurt. It hurt

exact day she found out s

et to the floor, both hands over her flat stomac

ever his father's car pulled in, just to catch a glimpse of him. Who never once dared to say the word Daddy o

en so weak

quietly, if she paid for her mother's sins a

they took his eyes

this

and stood up. In the mirror, her amber eyes

r it took. Her son would not be born a dirty secret locked in a back

of t

'm getting th

ened t

ic's lake house the way a warden runs a prison, and last time she had made Ivy's life hell

Doris snapped. "I thought you'd

t now, Doris. Remember? Dominic ha

me. Because of your little escape attempt, Ta

lked p

t you dare act like the lady of the house. Mr. Pierc

been hearing those words si

he coast road above Puget Sound and died. The woman in the car with him was Evelyn Hart, Ivy's mot

for twenty years. Inside the Pierce and Shaw households, though, everyone knew exactly whose daughter she was. Grandma June raised her on a farm in Montana unt

Pierce Holdings, Richard had put something in Ivy's drink at a

ffering. A paymen

. Every day she spent at this lake house was anothe

is was on her list. She

ed exactly what happ

e hadn't wanted to give that monster a child. So she threw

ead and a concussion. The baby was fine. No

o punish her, he made one phone call and had

ICU that week. She died t

the staircase and looked

asn't going to

n't going t

ng on the bathroom floor, she had sent a text

Cel

gnant.

he gravel driveway.

nd the staff downstairs chirp

Her heels cracked up the m

face photographers fell in love with. The Shaw family's gol

ce was twisted in

leste hissed when she

and smiled. "You don

s out of her skull. Ivy could practically hear what she was thinki

r. "Did I ask you to

scurri

y said. "She's not the one

g her hand a

her wrist

ars of scrubbing floors and carrying a child on her hip had

" Celeste spat. "A murderer's daught

r lips nearly touched Celeste's ear, and drop

y, I'm going to take it all. The Pierce name. Your place in the Shaw family. Your career. Ev

he first time in her life, Celes

r turned

ll ne

s hands slammed

around her stomach befo

ainst her shoulder, her hip, her hea

ircase, hands still stretched out in front of her, and e

chi

nes

ght, and every

eyes again, every in

nd money. Pierce Memorial, the private hospital Dominic

an Cole, chief of surgery, Dominic's best friend since boar

n. But there's a complication." Pa

minic's voice. Lo

e ice water. Her finger

s pregnant, Dom. A

was so heavy she could h

hed softly. It wa

d. "A woman with a child is