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ella
arble coffee table should have shattered
what you'
ice thin and sharp enough to cut glass. Her manicured finger, trembling with
woman! You made Bob
ome in a bland, predictable way, was twisted with disgust. He looked
ittle gasps, was Bobby Little-his mistress, the woman
look at t
poplectic face, over Jerrell's co
tical. A perfect,
ready lived this
They had branded me a monster, broken the engagement, and cast me out. My own family disowned me to save their business ties.
ossibly, I had o
body, before the wedding, before the accusatio
ot a second chance to endure. Th
spine, but I didn'
room, the same faces. But this time, I wasn't the screaming, pleadin
ike before
y steady, cutting through Margaret'
. "Margaret, as far as I am aware, the only legitimate
r, a slap more resoundin
d rushed to her face, turning it a
epping forward. "Don't you dar
t a sliver of something akin to pity. He was a fool.
y head. "Jerrell, are yo
"Jerrell," she whimpered, pressing her face i
d around my legs. It was a dress I'd bought for a celebration that would now ne
window, my back to them. The manicured gardens of the Griffin estate stre
g with an authority I hadn't known I pos
audacity to call this a farce? Is this ho
My brown eyes, which people often called w
No. Today, I'll teach yo
, but I was faster. My movement was fluid, practiced-the muscle memory of a woman who had alr
number fr
he first ring. No gr
ame and felt the ghost
er cold eyes and the way she moved like a shadow given
trument of absolute control. And such instruments
cation Protocol.' I n
dismantled falsehoods with medical precision and buried scandals before they could bre
aced the phone on the t
a, crossing my legs at the ankle. A qu
her. Their shock was a palpable thing, a
cise and deliberate, "as of this moment, the engagement betwee
ropped. "What?
voice. "This marriage is not for you to
h escaped my lips. It w
toward Bobby, who was still trying
ening into something sharp and unforgiving, "perhaps we should first
body wen
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