cab in downtown Wrille. She made her way straight in

of her coat and flung it onto a nearby chair. She headed stra

een away from-soaring buildings, packe

shattered. She was only six when her mother was

ly had done

across her, she wouldn't have lasted a week. The wildern

ack to visit. She'd returned to settle the sc

reached into her pocket and pulled out the pendant she'd taken from t

led with a kind of arrogant brilliance-co

sted in her palm that made it magnetic.

, and looped it around her neck. Stepping in front

In fact, it suited her. S

picked up her phone. With practiced ease, she m

dates, but one headline pra

itical Condition-Family Offering

on. She tapped the article

crash. She'd lost a lot of blood, and the hospital was s

oblem, but despite the massive reward,

d into a smirk she d

the stars

sneak her way back into the Palmer family's circle. Ins

ut off the app, leaned against the couch cushion

were scrambling for? It ju

in Wrille, she needed a title-one th

e, she slipped into her coat and

have no choice but to beg her to return-not in private, but in front of t

stepped into his path. He stopped cold. And there she was. The color drained from his fac

d, barely getti

r smile soft but deliberate. "What should I call

Rhett like a pu

uth to speak, bu

linch. Didn't ta

e longer he looked, the harder it was to deny

emorse buried inside him, now w

r between them stayed thick w

oice, it came out in a whisper

Do you want to run a DNA test, or are y

need. You've got your mother's face.

, bitter laugh from

these years? Had he not abandoned them for wealth and

ng up the very woman he left be

she said, her voice

nd strode into the hospital w

by the emotional whiplash. Then he s

d just outs

l lay motionless on the bed. Her skin was pale,

h the quiet. "I'll donate.

a slow, unreadable smile touched her lips. "You'll restore my status as part of

you're just looking for a home, I can buy you a place of your own. But

spell it out. Kath

rest of the Palmer

then Anna Palmer can face death on her own,"

aught her by the arm. "Wait-please. Don't go,