re on legs that di
Marble and gold and a mirror that showed her exactly what she looked like: bloodshot eyes, skin gray under the
ed against it, and presse
whispered. "He k
by nightfall - and she had nothing. No money, no family, no name anyone in this city st
c click came fe far end of the room, a tall figure un
e wore only a black dress shirt,
e?" she gasped, backing
ngs to me," he said,
ugh and still enough that she felt walled in, and the worst part was that some stupi
red dollars
utton of her collar and tugged it down, ju
cash on my nightstand as though I wer
hroat like acid. She
me! I'm Demar
d her back, and pulled her flush against him in one motion, so that her wh
was a dark, lazy laugh against her skin. "You didn't call me your br
ed! It was a
of slate ice. "Then answer me this, Darlen
fr
nce sit there a
lly, "with your fiancé on the other side of that door
She opened her mout
you think I'd
utside. "Darlene?" Demario's voic
nob r
r wrist to the small of her back, and he lifted her - lifted her - onto the marble counter, stepped in
d of blood from her lower lip where her teeth had been. "Let
ng, sulky silence. Then Demario's fo
feet with a deliberateness t
not loo
re he'd put it. Now the screen lit, throw
ming
read simply: C.
beat, the mas
st stopped being a weapon and became just a hand. He looked at the screen as if it were a bomb about to detonate, then muted the call without ans
and the armor sli
ht her
" he said, quiet. "Some ghosts
d not fo
he first crack she had ever seen in Clayton Montgomery - and c
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