of affection that was a final, deliberate twist of the knife. Jenna nestled against him, then g

e. Her footsteps echoed on the marble floors, the o

od as if it could hold her up. Her body slid down to the floor, the strength

. She felt scoured

the floor beside her

orget who pays the bil

, something between a sob and a scream, tore from her throat. She snatched the phone and hurl

Utterly and com

despair, a memory surfaced. A f

forced laughter. She had escaped to a balcony

in the quiet darkne

p, a man who moved with a quiet intensity that made other powerful me

r, looking out at the

his voice a low rumble. "If you ever need a w

ite their families through marriage. She had dismissed it at the time, a polite piece of social fi

tely decline

nd, not as a memory, but as a l

. A desperate

Her hands shook so violently she could barely navigate the menu. She scrolled

umber from his assistant's business card after

st her ribs. This was madness. He would think she

Stay here and be slowly suffocated?

o

only move lef

hat burned her lungs, sh

ternity. She was about to hang up, convinced this was the

voice answe

ouldn't come. Her heart was a frantic b

nt. He didn't prompt her or rush her. He simp

a dry, cracking whisper. "Mr.

e, just a beat o

w," he

hering every last shred

began, her voice trembling. "D

ife. It stretched and stretched, a vast, empty spa

voice clear, calm, an

do