n gates of the Bullock estate in Greenwich, C

er a twenty-dollar b

t was bought and paid for by her parents' blood, but Harlon tr

The blinding light from the Swarovski crys

flipping through a copy of Vogue. She wore a si

down Cora's cheap hoodie. He

harply. She didn't say hello. She turned her head and yelled t

walked straight towa

the landing, blocking he

ndex finger. His eyes were bloodshot, his face

"Run out of allowance already? Co

r past life, she had watched this exact man shove a pregnant woman

the distance until she

er. "Or I will take those car keys and shove them

the stairs. But as his eyes locked onto the absolute, dead-eyed certainty in hers, his hand froze in mid-air. The suffocating aura of a killer washed over him, b

ushed past him. She walked down the second-floor hallway

ss handles and shoved the doors open.

it cigar clamped between his teeth. Cora's grandmother,

n the saucer. She struck the f

l?" Myra barked. "You burst

hem with a loud click. She dropped her backpack onto th

e into the air. He crushed the cigar i

. "I am not funding some imaginary digital

r breathing to speed up, making her chest heave. She

crack. "You just don't understand technology! You

ou are exactly like your worthless mo

id. She wanted to rip the old woman's throat out, b

k stack of stapled papers and threw them across the

thly. "It locks the principal until you are twenty-five. You get

d down at

ed on the armrests. The angry teenager vanis

d out a small, black USB drive. She p

d to drop. Harlon stared at the p

rd, resting her e

e completely smooth and devoid of emotion, "let's