cheeks, sharp and cold d

re me, his duffe

led me

whispered into my hai

ble, the one that alway

East... it's a big one. Secret

a Gardner, daughter of a Texas oil tycoon, a budding doc

a high-end risk consultancy my family's connec

ightly to look into my eyes, "we're getting marr

amily's sprawling Montana-no, Wyoming-it was always

. "I'll hold you

charming, disarming grin that h

omplicated. Shadowy. I hadn't cared. I loved the intens

It sounded li

ong and deep, a

lked towards the waiting black SUV at the

llights disappeared dow

he left behi

the cold seepin

e ye

uld

He was m

cket. A text from my god

You okay

's gone. I'll be f

eed anything. A

n had been my father's closest frie

hree years

umentary work, traveling, f

Encrypted emails, brief satellite calls from undi

ou like cr

g down t

my love

to those

other, back in Houston

years. What if he

etraying none of the gnawing fear I

to. He

nch, the future he painted so vividly –