Not Her: The Shadow Bride's Great Escape

mobster until Ethan Cole, the city's most

arried me, draped me in vintage diamonds, a

airytale until I found the

d woman named Olivia. A woman who

I was a replacement par

hug me. He placed a possessive hand o

only saw an incubator

once I gave Ethan this child, I would be trapped in his gild

d the un

d cash to remove the one thing

loor in a pool of blood, and looked up

d, tearing at his lape

break, knowing I h

pte

a

of my palms before I even re

tal a few feet away, its front wheel spinn

sensation seizing my chest, because the black seda

t had finally decided to stop

er's doo

steppe

moved with a terrif

arcoal fabric that probably cost more than my fath

f authority that made the atmosphere around him feel

o he was

e face of the man who held th

an

e

who paid his dues and kept his head down, t

kept hidden, the clean

me, his movements

y face with an intensity that made me

ou hur

ew my

ongue felt like a caress

kay," I stammered,

ached

ng and elegant. I hesitated, but t

y bloody h

close enough that I could smell his cologne-sandalw

s voice low and smooth like velvet dr

ed at

t was empty. The

been

, but I was too naive to u

," I lied, trying t

dn't

rape on my palm, smearing the

ke you hom

't a qu

bike

interrupted coldly.

the passenger se

you don't say n

n house was silent, but the tension f

driveway, my father wa

ening in sheer terror as he saw

ut and open

ing possessively on the small of my back

than said, nodd

his voice barely a whisper. "T

n said, his eyes never leaving mine. "I

o me, and I saw a flicker of

gnat

my father said.

hear what they woul

allway, but I did

against the wood, my heart pounding

through, devoid of the warmth he had

ave," my father

tated. "I will call on her formally

mmered agai

the wall, my breath

ante

ful man in the

y cheek, wh

the transactio

hear the

reading about in books, blind to the