ra'
ck of bills in my trembling hands. Each crisp white paper felt like a death sentence, the numbers blurring t
housand
my going to college or dropping out to work minimum-wage jobs for the rest of his life. Between keeping the smal
to block out the antiseptic smell that always made me think of death and desperation
heart, you lo
gainst white pillows, her once vibrant auburn hair now streaked with premature gray, her face pale but st
y had denied her heart surgery claim? That the bank wanted to foreclose on our house in thirty days? That
reached for my hand with fingers that felt to
hosts that haunted every corner of our lives. His gambling addiction hadn't died with him-it had simply transformed into
," I said, changing the subject as I always did when thou
e that meant she saw through my attempts at distraction. "I know we're i
ned frustration. His sandy brown hair was disheveled from running his hands through it-a habit he had i
ice cracked slightly, betraying
, not
me with shaking hands. "I just got off the phone with Ki
new the man behind it. Harris Kingston, the youngest billionaire in the city, famous fo
en as the words left my lips, I knew Tom
his voice growing stronger with each word. "And guess what? They wan
ened around mine. "Flo
came out steadier than
ticing what I would say to Harris Kingston. How do you beg a billionaire for mercy? How do you ex
oked far too young to be carrying the weight of my family's survival. I wasn't sophisticated like the women who probably graced Kingston's arm at c
ng standing between my fami
gleaming glass tower that housed Kingston Investments. Forty-seven floors of ste
d my only pair of heels that weren't scuffed beyond repair. My hands shook as I pushed through th
receptionist, a woman so perfectly polished sh
barely concealed disdain. "Fort
e doors opened, I stepped into a world of marble and mahogany that screamed power an
Benn
ce and felt the air lea
-easily six feet two inches-with dark hair that looked like he had been running his hands through it and steel-gray eyes that seemed to see straight th
n a way that made my heart skip
spite the way he was looking at me, like I was a puz
seat. Instead, he leaned against the edge of the desk, close enough that I could smell his e
rumble that sent unexpected shivers down my spine.
than a whisper. "And I'm here to ask for
was something almost gentle in those steel-gray eyes. "I know about your brother's college applicat
ned to ice.
iss Bennett." He pushed off from the desk and walked to the window, his hands
d through me lik
mething in his expression ma
here to propo
ven floors below seemed to disappear as I stared at this stranger wh
orry,
-not kind, not cruel, but somet
I will make all your family'