The Billionaire's Stolen Angel: A Painful Return

burning rubber and t

ck of your throat. The sun hammered down on the metal roofs of the

r arms, which were just sticks wrapped in pale skin. The plastic snagged on a sharp ro

you useless w

ooked like without seeing her: a floral muumuu stained with ketchup, a ci

a serrated knife. "God, you're slow. No wonde

er ribs. She dropped to her knees in the dirt, her fingers shaking as she tried to sc

costs extra. That

d began t

s under her knees. Then the water

nce was sudden and terrifying. Estelle

cut through

wasn't a rusted Ford or a police cruiser. It was a mono

ther. An

of t

les that usually swallowed tires whole. The sheer size of them blocked out the su

r was exactly ten feet from whe

on. The sound was a

They moved with the terrifying precision of machines. They wore sun

one of them said. His

er cigarette falling from her mouth and burn

tch Lincoln that looked long enou

er. Hand-stitched. It cost more th

houldered, with a face carved from granite and grief. H

woman.

hand was over her mouth, her eyes wide,

landed on

apped bird. She tried to make herself smaller, curling her s

the woman

new. But the sound of it b

nking into the mud, and she didn't care. She hit the ground

ck, raising her arm

ow nev

it was a collision. The woman buried her face in Estelle's dirty, mat

, the sound raw and ugly. "Oh

sed by the woman's grief. She stayed rigid, her

. It was heavy, warm, and smelled like cedar. He knelt down, enclosing both of them.

d from the porch. "I mean... I took good c

r loo

have heat. It was absolute zero. It

ar," Arthur said, his

her face. Eleanor's thumbs brushed away a smudge of dirt on Estelle's

leanor choked ou

e woman's wet eyes.

hat had just been caught by a