Playing Blind: The CEO's Ultimate Test

needs clearin

harp tone, the damp rag in her ha

t her hip. She ignored it. It was probably her mother, and she didn't have the ener

tale coffee and disinfectant filling her nostrils. Her back ache

for a full minute," the manager, a man named Sal with a pe

rced her arm to move faster, the circular motions mechanical.

ure Sal was distracted by a customer, she ducked into the cramped back storeroom, pulling

her. The design was elegant, a tasteful cream and gold. The sub

e Wedding of Victori

ad, his arm wrapped possessively around a beaming blonde. Victoria Sharp. Her smile was perfect, her teeth impossibly

late-night study sessions, of sharing cheap pizza, of whispered plans for the future-all eras

laza Hotel. A five-course meal. A live band. It was a world away from this dingy storeroo

er phone rang, the cheerful, generic

r ear, the plastic cool aga

een calling all day!" Sharon Hayes's voice was

en at wo

you gotten the money yet? Jenna's doctor called. They need t

d found a patch of wild mushrooms and insisted on eating them. Chloe had argued, had tried to knock the mushroom from her sister's hand, but Jenna, bossy and stubborn even then, had shoved her away and eaten it anyway. The resulting liver damage was irre

as real, but Chloe had long suspected the money didn't always go where her mother claimed. Credit card bills, Jenna's shopping sprees-she'd caught glimpses of receipts that

orking three jobs, but after rent and tuition, t

brand cereal, Chloe! I haven't bought a new dress in years! Is that wh

l was a well-worn path, and she was tired of walking it, but her

ormance flawless, "it will be on your consci

y's endless demands, the bone-deep exhaustion-pressed

one shifting abruptly from grief to bus

ense of dread cre

to pay one million dollars, Chloe. A

lt. "What? No. Absolutely

ter!" Sharon's voice was sharp again. "Is y

ct, happy faces. Love was a lie. Her future was a dead end. A wave of se

, her voice hollow. "W

ds a wife. The money will be transfer

bts, fund Jenna's treatment for years, and

haky breath.

She wore a simple, faded blue dress, the nicest thing she owned that wasn't a work uni

ing clear coat on the hood and a dent in the rear bumper that had been there long enough to rust. Chloe blinked, certain there had been som

make out a figure in the driver's seat, his silhouette motionless. He wasn't rushing out. He wasn't even looking

ers and looked away, giving him the privacy of her turned back. Whoever he was,