st, dark space on the edge of the Hudson River, illuminated only by
house came a low, guttural laugh. The voice carr
a huge, throne-like chair. The only visible feature was a kingly silhouette and
heavy stone was pre
were named O
he hotel, assuring her she was a pawn in his game, and then let her go. It was about sending
had sustained her vanished, and the full effects of the medication washed over her. A wave of dizziness wash
onsciousness, her hand shot out, her fingers despera
e man's trousers and the cold,
w she had touched him. He had an instinctive, intense aversion to unnecessary physical conta
tered dress to slide up to above her calves. There, just behind her ear, visible in the sliver of moonlig
act same mark he had noticed on the woman in the
movement fluid and silent. He lifted her chin with two fingers, raising her face towards the light. Her skin was cold a
murmured, his voic
anged. Compl
command was soft, but unquestionab
in surprise, but quic
ard me
as executed w
knees, effortlessly carrying her. That scent flooded her senses again-whiskey and tobacco, a cold, refreshin
bed to the
ternoon light of a bedroom more luxurious than any she had ever seen. Floor-to-ceiling windows offered bre
rawl to the door, she found it locked. The window, after a f
A beautiful
riking the hard surface until her knuckles turned
response. O
he memory of her hand clutching her cold ankle, and the memory of an invisible
dn't just use her as a pawn in
ere. And she h
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