rning
es, the acrid taste of smoke-i
ve of cold ai
t breathing smoke. She was breathing expensive perfume-Chanened h
e. Her hands were gripping the edge of a
framed mirror st
n was unblemished, glowing with youth. Her collarbones were sharp, her arms slender but not gaunt. She touched he
ce. A chance she hadn't asked for, but one she would wield like a weapon. The grief was still there, a cold, har
ked down at the clutch purse rest
iPhone, but an older model.
glared at her: Octobe
dt Chari
urning and acidic. She bent over the sink and d
he night she was accused of drugging Darius Brandt to force him into mar
a string quartet playing Vivaldi. She heard the click-clack of heels
tonight," a voice said. "If I can
water onto her face, desperate to wake up from this twisted nightmare. Bu
in. The fear in her eyes began to harde
this night crying in a stall. She had begged Dari
this
o wear to look innocent and submissive. She found a tube of lipstick-a
th steady hands. The red slashed
ngth beige gown, chosen by her mother to make her look
She found the seam near the thigh.
ii
eating a slit that went halfway up her thigh. S
ling her lungs with the sce
open the re
mouth of a beast. Crystal chandeliers dripped light onto the crowd of Manhattan's elite. Her eyes swept over the d
them imm
entrance, clutching a champagne flute, laughing
oman was Il
te. She was smiling that sweet, venomous s
nted to walk over there and wrap her hands around Ilene's th
e forced the corners of her red lips up
s clicked against the floor, a steady,
nd took a glass without breaking her stride. She downed the conten
elled. The c
ell over
randt ha
unger than she remembered. His face was smoother, less lined by the custody battles
looking for something
empty glass. She watched the man she had loved, the man w
t flutter. It t
e thought. And this t
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