hoed in the silent apartment. The sound sev
door until she hit the floor. She pulled her kn
b tore from her throat. The tears she had been fig
d on a loop in her br
person in the Payne family who had ever looked at her with love. If her father fol
d knees. She grabbed her phone from the sofa, he
her fathe
f a high-end engine and the rhythmic thrum of tires against asphalt filtere
d, please tell me you're not already there.
t the morning trying to contain the media blackout, but the board is breathing down my neck. If you don't want to be the r
ne wen
s a weapon to protect his company, racing toward the Hamptons with the lethal truth
paced the living room, her chest heaving
She couldn't go to the press
d dropped during the fight lay in a heap on the rug. Sticki
w Spe
fe. The man who could crush the Pa
mind: When you realize you can't fight
d. She rubbed her thumb over the gold foil let
to a monster. But if she didn't, her gran
d down her cheek. She picked up her phone
green call button, her phone
the quiet room. The scree
reen in pure terror. Had her father already
throat, and pressed answer. She forced the
Gra
red, his breath hitching slightly. "I've been isolated out here all morning... my staff keeps trying to hide the
out the scandal, or at least enough of it to be dis
faint, sharp authority. "Your father is on his way here. He sounded frantic on the phone, muttering about
to muffle a sob. He hadn't seen th
explain everything," Alen
you can beat him to the front gate. I
tervention and the traffic had bought her a narrow window. She
' worth of clothes inside. She ran to the bathroom and splashed freez
. She threw her bag into the passenger seat of her beat-up Chevrolet, jam
ming, and she
/1/115160/coverbig.jpg?v=88c8cf2d3dbc24cd0e69b27c44b37afd&imageMogr2/format/webp)