k. We need a bone ma

ey hit me harder than any physical blow. He was talking

the entire country," the doctor continued, his eyes on a tablet. He looked u

od ran

voice a low growl

n, lying pale and still in the hospital bed. She turned to my

e was the patriarch of the Blackwood family, a man of old Montana mone

her phone and made a call. "Shut down every Blackwood account. Fre

This wasn't the Elara I knew

of her. "Don't do this. My mother... she' s n

eyes empty of any warmth. "She

ground, but I knew we were powerless against the Vance fortune. She was a tech titan,

I said, my voice

oice, Asher." She gestured to her men. "Take him back to the ra

le hallway, unheard by the woman I called my wife. They threw me into the damp, musty cellar on our own property an

door creaked op

st the weak light. "The transplant

e dirt floor, my heart a h

smissive. "I'm staying at the hospita

rned t

hroat. "Why are you doing this

ask yourself that question, Asher." Th

nothing compared to the agony in my chest. I sank to the

I was

given back to me after I had so

e then, too, an arranged marriage between her new money and my old name. But I had scorned her. I w

ffair in her face. I remembered her quiet tears, her unwavering support for my family's business even as

s to ruin the Blackwood name. In the end, when it all came crashing down, when I was corne

s she died in my arms, were

a storm of regret so powerful it felt

again, on my wedding day with Elara.

g husband. But it was all wrong. In this life, she was cold, distant. And then Julian Croft appeared. An artist from Brooklyn, a

is was different. Forcing my mother into surgery

who had died for me, was gone

dn't take

that had survived death and rebi

y parents and leave, escape her in

nch hands let me out. I drove straight to

r bed, my hand gripping hers, and a wave of guilt w

r fault, Asher. It's her." She looked confused. "I don't understand. Sh

m my first life. The E

her. As soon as you're well enough to travel, we're leaving. W

her warring with her maternal instinct. "

not safe," I said firmly. "She hurt you, Mo

my eyes and finally nod

ut real, settled over me. I

ics of selling assets quietly, getting new passports. As I walked down t

g in my leg as I went down hard. The worl

s in a cast. Elara was sitting in a ch

p. "The doctors said it's a simple fractur

Even this, sh

g of food. "I brought lunch for Mr. Croft, Ms. Va

ian is allergic to shellfish,

rld st

llf

allergic to

te in our marriage, after a terrifying incident at a restaurant in Seattle. It was a private, painful memor

le

he remem

ll the coldness, the cruelty, the twisted role-reversal

too. And she wa

indifference, her obsession with Julian, her precise cruelty.

d, my voice ba

at me, her expres

born too,