The Billionaire's Cruel Secret

hday He

turned out to

der on his knees and a key Adrian had given him months ag

r-haired lawyer said. "I didn't kn

mp he'd grabbed like a weap

red, Mr. Cole. And I

ed strategy. At 4:58 that afternoon, two minutes before sunse

Hart

city like smoke. And Amara, who had eaten a paper-bag lunch fo

y-seventh birthday

part that sta

bag hung on her bedroom do

lock. Wea

handwriting that had once told

most wine. The back dipped low enough to

y not, sh

it on

bottom, one hand on the railing. He had traded his usua

d forgot, comple

and stayed there, dark and slow, until her sk

le rough. "You spent it signing papers. That's

I'm dressed

real smile she'd seen on him. "T

hand on the wheel, the other resting on the gearshif

losed to everyone but them. One table. Dozens of candles.

s grazed the bare skin of her back, and th

. He heard it. He did

her to read from a torn cereal box. He told her about boarding school, and his father's silence at

oing this?" sh

ou in twenty-two years." He turned his wineg

r appeared wit

e of lemon ca

went

whispered. "On my de

d, as though it were nothing. "You

not

you, Amara." His voice dr

trembled be

e a

moment, she let herself want s

d you wi

ou, it won't

me a

es. His were alre

he phone he propped against a candle.

't kno

st been wanting to do

The other hand took hers and held it against his che

," she said i

s forehead came down against h

ted her

sed him

n starving for months and had finally been fed. Her back met the cool glass, and his palms came up flat on either

't want

ed into his open

" he murmured against h

n do

. His lips found the

le, her phone

gain, insistent, until i

apart, brea

" Adrian sa

looking. An unknown

rk hair streaked with silver.

. She saw them in her

photo, o

ive. Ask Adrian h

laying. The cand

ara lifted

k shocked. He did

building he'd spent eight mont

ara

w l

swered before

ths," he s

one last time in

m who put