ella

rinted on heavy cream cardstock. The embossed crest of the Kane family-a roar

the Frazier sitting room was thick with the

icured fingernail. She looked up, her eyes gleaming with a hunger that made her pretty face l

voice devoid of the venom coursing through my veins. "The Kanes don't invite minor families to the

lous, Isabella. You know you don't belong there. A merchant's d

lculation in my eyes. "Or perhaps I just know that cattle d

didn't look up from her ledger. "Bethany is right. You should be gratefu

a thousand times in my past life. They used

sapphire resting against my collarbone. *The Heart of the Lake*. The deep b

tly. Her pupils dilated. Greed, pure and

irloom?" she asked, her v

tone. "I thought I might wear it to d

onnecting the dots in her shallow mind. If she wore this to the gala, she wouldn't just

ending her hand. "For the gala. It

ighter. "I don't know, Bethany. This necklace is... very recognizable. M

at. "Give it to me. Unless you want me to t

against my fingertips as I handed it over. "Fine. But please... be careful. Don't wea

ith pride. She snatched the necklace, draping it over her own neck and rus

ought, the silent words echoing

announced, standing u

oked at me. They h

. But I didn't go to the stairs. Instead, I slipped into the shadows of the ha

ait

of Bethany giggling. Then, Cathy's vo

th the jewelry,

t's worth a fortune. Why

Once Jaret secures the engagement with Alexandria Kane, the Wilder fort

?" Bethany asked. "Jaret

inst my ribs like a trapped bird. This w

the Kane girl for power. But he'll keep Isabella as his mistress. We'll keep her here, hidden away. She's pretty enough to

to do with the drafty hal

hung in the air, he

aret loved me. I had thought my aunt cared. But they were just v

wanted to turn me into a ghost in my own life, a secret kept in

didn't need to hear anymore. The sadness that had lingered sinc

tress? I would gi

The necklace was in Bethany's hands. The trap was set. And now that I kne

ce in my head whispe