smelled like roasted espress
shaking as she pulled out a blank notepad and a cheap ball
senger bag and pulled out a thin laptop. He set it on the count
he had brought with him whirred to life. It s
papers. Her stomach
ocuments across the comman
. The legal jargon
of assets. Absolute confidentiality regarding the nature of this arrangemen
ttom lip. It soun
to the middle o
tie read out loud. She let out a breath she did
up a silver
clause on the last p
the page. Her
ed out, her throat closing up. "
gned to keep external threats-like the media or your family's relentless meddling-at bay. I give you my word, as long as you do not actively
o her for exactly three seconds to retrieve a second sheet from the portable printer. In that microscopic window of time, shielded entirely from her view, he dragged the tip of his silver pen across the middle of page two. A thick, black line struck righinstructe
nter felt like ice against her skin. She pressed the pen to the paper andstared at her signature. A slow, dark
nd slid it into the inside pocket
ty palms against her jeans. "When d
hecked h
'clock today," Connor said.
dropped. Her
asped. "That i
r said, his tone leaving no
or. He paused with his hand on the knob
His voice was thick with an
unter, her legs giving out. She stared at the empty space wh/1/113090/coverbig.jpg?v=022cc07114d8ffc014ac53d2889aeac4&imageMogr2/format/webp)