ella
rinted on heavy cream cardstock. The embossed crest of the Kane family-a roar
the Frazier sitting room was thick with the
icured fingernail. She looked up, her eyes gleaming with a hunger that made her pretty face l
voice devoid of the venom coursing through my veins. "The Kanes don't invite minor families to the
lous, Isabella. You know you don't belong there. A merchant's d
lculation in my eyes. "Or perhaps I just know that cattle d
didn't look up from her ledger. "Bethany is right. You should be gratefu
a thousand times in my past life. They used
sapphire resting against my collarbone. *The Heart of the Lake*. The deep b
tly. Her pupils dilated. Greed, pure and
irloom?" she asked, her v
tone. "I thought I might wear it to d
onnecting the dots in her shallow mind. If she wore this to the gala, she wouldn't just
ending her hand. "For the gala. It
ighter. "I don't know, Bethany. This necklace is... very recognizable. M
at. "Give it to me. Unless you want me to t
against my fingertips as I handed it over. "Fine. But please... be careful. Don't weaith pride. She snatched the necklace, draping it over her own neck and rus
ought, the silent words echoing
announced, standing u
oked at me. They h
. But I didn't go to the stairs. Instead, I slipped into the shadows of the ha
ait
of Bethany giggling. Then, Cathy's vo
th the jewelry,
t's worth a fortune. Why
Once Jaret secures the engagement with Alexandria Kane, the Wilder fort
?" Bethany asked. "Jaret
inst my ribs like a trapped bird. This w
the Kane girl for power. But he'll keep Isabella as his mistress. We'll keep her here, hidden away. She's pretty enough to
to do with the drafty hal
hung in the air, he
aret loved me. I had thought my aunt cared. But they were just v
wanted to turn me into a ghost in my own life, a secret kept in
didn't need to hear anymore. The sadness that had lingered sinc
tress? I would gi
The necklace was in Bethany's hands. The trap was set. And now that I kne
ce in my head whispe
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