the jagged cuts on the soles of her feet. She walked gingerly to the window, her weight shifting to her heels to avoid

e blazed with light. Inside the massive formal dining room, the air was thick an

rigid as the silver she held. Johnie sat at the opposite end, her posture a practiced mask o

y against the porcelain with a sound like a whetted tooth. "Where is Carma staying when

le that didn't reach her eyes. "I thought the east wing gue

e in mid-motion. "She is the eldest daughter of this house," Helene snapped, her eyes narrowing into cold, judgmental slits.

he chandelier light. "The e

out, her voice high and petulant. "She doesn't deserv

. Christel flinched, dropping her gaze instantly to her lap. "She will take the second-floor lux

d spent a fortune renovating for her own use after Carma was sent away. "That is my dressing room,"

are worth more than your fabric," Helene snee

table and hurled it at the wall, watching it shatter into a thousand jagged diamonds. Her nanny and confidante, Patience Pruitt, rushed forward, keeping her head down

cheap, untraceable flip phone. The screen lit up with a single encrypted text message from Lawson

lushed the pieces down the toilet, her movements methodical. She walked to her suitca

t her face until her skin was ghost-white and freezing. She applied a thick la

for her cousin. As the first gray light of dawn touched the peaks, the screech of tires outside the re

mas, exposing her collarbone to look disheveled. She swung her legs out of bed, her feet hissing in pain as they touched the cold stone f