hed her

Cornelia rose from the floor. The world tilted, but she forced it steady. She no

s cold as his,

ice was raspy, but it

ed jeans on the floor and pulled out a cheap, disposable phone. A burner.

mered. "She told me the roo

he dim light. The messages were crude, filled with a desperate, flirtatious tone Cornelia would

bbed in Eua

hone to the floor. It hit the marble entryway and explo

nly thing that could have been traced or an

nt. He grabbed her wrist, his fingers closing around it like a manacle. The bones in her

ting me," she sai

mbled, her bare feet struggling to find purchase on the plush carpet. Her other hand came up, her f

wrist. His lips parted, as if to speak, to offer a word of caution to his boss. But one look at t

lence. He c

an who was dragging her from the scene of her own violation. In that moment,

rp pang echoed in his chest. A flicker of something that might have been doubt. But then the image of those vile

t chime that sounded like a coffin closing. He slammed her against the col

he snarled, his face inches from hers

g lurch in her stomach. An image flashed behind her eyelids: Euan, five years ago, at the altar. His profil

monster in front of her now was so vast

she whispered, opening he

voice. Only a statement of fa

lty woman would be hysterical, begging for forgiveness. This quiet, dead-eyed defian

er body aching. But she met his furious gaze with an unnerving, re

rick at his subconscious. It was as if her compos

demoted Euan Corbett from 'husband' to 'hostile business associate.' A problem to be

e sterile, concrete expanse of

wyer," she said, her v

laugh. "To what? Sue me fo

o the back seat. He slid in after her, the door closing with a heavy, final thud.

ant in the boardroom, was a fortress of prejudice, refusing to entertain even the possibility of

lines around his mouth and eyes. The smell of the expensive leather upholst

d about finance, about his family's complex trusts, about the delicate pol

endered meaningless by the l

n demolished. Not by a storm, but by a single, well-placed whisper from Aleah.Yet Euan was her legal guardian, and

and into the glittering, indifferent chaos of the New York night. The neon

him as she could get. Her world had shrunk to the confines of this leather-s