inished with the situation yet. He had summoned them all back to the main living room-
g for an escape. "A piece of paper proves nothing!"
, who was still huddled and trembling. "Brenda," Asha as
, her face a mess of tears and genuine remorse. In a sudde
Miss Asha!" she wailed. "Miss Kinsley m
t was the recording-the backup Asha had instructed her to make after their confrontation in the bedroom. Kinsley's voice,
l cornered, but Mason Hayes stepped forwar
ing up screenshots of the bank transfers from Kinsley's
Asha knew-and Darien suspected-that this revelation was merely the visible tip of a much deeper operatio
ent fury. The air in the room grew heavy, crackling with a dangerous energy. He loo
ce a low, deadly whisper. "
bbing at the hem of his trousers. "Darien, Uncle Darien, I'm sorr
e betrayal, the deceit, the vicious attack on the person
f the slap echoed through the
ying to her cheek, which was already swelling,
red. "From this moment," he bit out, each word
e floor with utter revulsion. "Get o
And notify the financial office. Freeze her credit car
ard and hauled her to her feet. She started screaming then, vile, hateful curses directed at Asha, her mask of
ken only by Brenda's q
sley's stiletto prodding her bleeding leg, the laughter in that warehouse, the sting of every betrayal she had endured in another life.
only the
weight of the morning's discoveries-the clean blood test, the audio confession, Brenda's surrender-pressed down on him like a ph
s suit jacket. He looked down at her, and something in
soothing balm on his raw anger. "Don'
ided, replaced by a wave of guilt so powerful it nearly brought him t
something, anything, but his throat was
/1/118521/coverbig.jpg?v=adda44865c738a4eaa442ce0e5dd1a6d&imageMogr2/format/webp)