her into the back of the SUV, the door slamming shut with a sound of finality. Cameron was beh

d half-expected him to yell, to demand an explanation for why she wa

hing. He s

as a cold rain began to fall. Her clothes were still the same ones from the party, now rumpled and stained. Her body ached. The seafood appetize

earview mirror. They weren't heading for the family estate. Alanna watched the familiar str

g gate. The Robertson family mausoleum.

papers flew from the front seat, hitting her in the

ommanded, his voice

en. He grabbed her arm and dragged her out into the pouring rain, forcing

g crunch and a fresh wave of pain shot up her legs. Blood

er her like an executioner. The rain plastered his dark

her feet. They were printouts from gossip we

you? Bailey was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. They resci

s. "She tried to kill herself, Alanna. S

nother perfect

s and bruised face. "You come back like this, looking like you crawled out of a sewer, and yo

ing her trauma, the very thing she had survived,

ion icy fragments. The pain from the whips and chains in the compoun

spered, her voice shaking. "

ed, his grip tightening until black spots danced in her vision. "The IP address the posts came from was

choked denial caught in her throat.

, his voice a low, terrifying growl. "You will kneel here and repent to your parents f

thout a backward glance, lea

m her face. She tried to stand, to tell him to check her pho

do something so e

dn't want the truth. He wanted an excuse

But her legs... her knees we

ce, silent sentinels of her misery. The cold seeped into her bones. The wind was a constant las

ight, she fina

mpassive. "Miss Kent has woken up

forgiveness. How utterly absurd. She hadn't done a single t

nally let out a primal scream of grief, her tears lost in the endles

not to a hospital, but to the st

r voices through the door. Anderson, her own brother, talking to their lawyer about transferring the majori

arned money to appease the woman w

ey the Stewart family matriarchal ring, the one his mother had worn, the

was trash, locked away while they showered her t

dried. There was only a h

nsciousness completely, she hear

the cologne Cameron always wore.

mething that might have been guilt. He gently lift

o look at his face. "Let me go, Cameron," she whisper