Never Marry?I Bring Him to Heel

ed through the darkness,

time with a heartbeat that was fading far too fast. Her wrist burned where the blade had gone deep. S

n swam in

ide, draped over the edge of the tub, and from the fresh gash on her wrist, blood still wept into the water in lazy, dark ribbons. Near the porcel

eight, unresponsive. Her body slid back down, and the bloody water rushe

belong to her came. They hit her like shards

her Faye. On her knees. Clinging to a ma

l die if you leave

as he looked down at her w

just

p and merciless. He had said it. He had actually sai

al, ignited a spark

rv

gainst the slick porcelain rim of the tub. Her knuckles went white, the str

document he had shoved across the table at her just days ago. The heading at the top was printed in bold black le

rp as broken gl

ike you is

man who had taken everything she had given him, her strategies, her b

b at a café . The old man had struck up a conversation, and within an hour, he had seen something in her. A mind like a steel trap, he had called it. He asked her questions abo

have a family, a name, a future that her small-town life could never give her. To a girl who had grown up with nothing, it had sounded like a fairy tale

g. She had been s

ight in the study. A dozen pages of market analysis spread across the desk. Her fingers cramped from typing. Her

isition. Every boardroom victory. An

he company was still standing. But Walter was gone now-dead just a month ago, his last breath barely cold before Bowen started moving pi

irst love, Isabelle Sterling. For

and his cousin, Tiffany, echoed

Belt t

ry bum

, had chosen the only escape she could see. She had sliced open he

nother Fay

o end a life, not to beg for attention. The pills had done their work t

. I am

could not die. Not like this. Not while these monsters got to l

hauled her drenched, shivering body over the edge of the tub. She landed w

for support. The corner of the marble counter dug into her hip,

ooked up. Int

in heavy, garish makeup. Thick foundation. Exaggerated black eyeliner that swept toward her temples

ght find acceptable. Erased her own youth. She was only nineteen years old now,

ars turning herself into what he wan

ted face were not the eyes of a victim.

ve

ick terrycloth robe hanging on the door and wrapped it tightly around her

t knock rattled t

e family are waiting dow

ion of Marriage. The document that would legally erase her from his life. The same document

nto her face, washing away the tears and blood that were not entirely her own. Her f

gh to see the sharp, clear lines of her o

open. Inside, among expensive, barely used creams, sat a first-aid k

open wound was a welcome shock, a sharp, clean pain that cut through t

reflection, at the woma

last breath bubbling up through bloody water. But her name, Faye Barnes, belonged to this b

pered, her voice raspy

promised, "I wi

g the bloody water still pooled on the

stop

all chosen to match his taste, to make her invisible, to erase every trace of the vibrant, ambitious girl she

r. She swept an arm across a rack, sending a ca

ed to bu

it. A simple black dress. It was a dress the original Faye had bought before her ma

cut clean and severe. It was a dre

g just above her knees. It showcased a frame that was slender but not

the mirror, still smudged with the remnants of

bedroom door