ilent dining room. Candles flickered in their crystal ho
her posture poised, a sof
ual composed stance-immaculate suit, not a
s of wine, but froze when he s
. "Let's not drag this
on her lip
r eyes dropped to the folder, then lifted to his face-searching.
e said softly, not touching t
cold, detached, clinical. As if she were ju
ed. Heavy paper. The kind they'd once
ile legal language blurred in her vision, but the message rang
ed. "You couldn't even w
mpensation: the Old Town villa, your shop in the
laugh. "So that's what m
te, untouched. Steam stil
able, Naomi. You know how
w I was losing you. But I didn't think you'd t
edge of collapse, Naomi had offered him a deal:
since. He left the country the next day. In four years, he returned onl
chivalrous boy who'd walked her home in the rain
place stood this hollow
't proposed the marriage... cou
don't rewr
xpecting more paperwork. Custody for a pet they never h
lize it at the Civil Affairs
ed her wine glass and took a lon
g, Kael. Is this
swer. He did
r a flat tire, and you drop everything. But when I c
t her," he said,
is it ab
le
wasn't that I was lacking-it was that I
ve signed the papers.
and walked out. The risotto sat there, unto
.
day. 10
irs Bureau, the wind tugging at the hem of h
d out her phone and
g. Two.
t to vo
ated for a moment, then tappe
answered after a bea
she said, voice clipped
d. "I'll try to contact him," Mar
re she could sa
r phone, lips pres
dn't reach Kael-but
path
k black car finally pulled up in front of her. The engin
steppe
eath c
" she aske
ve her a strained s
e's K
me to handle the process on his b
at her sides. "Pressi
ce, he wouldn't spar
drain from her face. "
smiled. It didn'
ed to say more. "Miss S
oice trembling but firm. "You
.
house steps, blinking against sunlight th
ficate still smel
e official seal on the paper beside her. Her signature was
tears. Hoped, may
ike a thread had snapped inside her che
the Swift family. Once c
, like a forg
s with her fami
she had
dn't eve
ast, yet she ha
lot, tires crunching over gravel, she merged onto the busy street. Her thoughts
h
a
against metal. Her body jerked
re
jo
shat
!" a voice cried fr
*