The Billionaire's Cruel Secret

me on t

n your lap," Whitmore said again, gently, as

a hu

le roof lit up silver for one terrible second. She flattened herself against the cold

Move,

life. Her palms burned. Adrian's jacket snagged on a rung and she tore it free. At the

h. The sweet, gree

rt in her throat. Voices moved through the glass behin

e said. "The doctor

on

gh. Everyone kept

osed over

locked around her waist and hauled her backward into the narrow gap betwee

an whispered. "

g in her

thing in h

lling of rain and cedar and blood. A cut ran along his hairline and a dark line of red had dried down his temple.

d to be in a ca

ot o

lied

es

cided f

s rough and low. "A

st, not hard enough to hurt and much too har

ou," she

you d

d

d dropped against he

e knew it, and his hands came up and cupped her face, rough and warm, his

outside. A flashlight beam slid a

opped b

over the back of her head to keep her from striking the wood. She could feel his heartbeat. It was as fast as hers. She could feel e

passed.

didn't

n," she whispered against his j

omi

and furious and a little bit tender, with all the rage she had left, and he made a low sou

e away, he lo

ll breathless, "doesn

kno

till a

ppointed if

house. A door banged. Then the engines started, on

ly when the street went quiet did she push at his

the drive. "All of it. Whatever

id the drive into a battered laptop he'd hidden un

ed in a shell company three layers deep, under

thick block of it, and at the top

MARA

me, and no

ke. We never had anything. Mama cleaned offi

t the n

lo

e sat down on an overturned flowerpot

o many zeros it looked fake, li

erty, patents, shares. When he died, it all went into a trust in your name. It was s

oom t

you were declared unable to manage your own affairs, or your guardian was..." He swallowed. "If your mother

lowly. "The transfer autho

s voice was ragged. "And I was eight, and I held the pen. That's why I ca

ared a

e way he'd gone quiet whenever she mentioned her mot

keeping a

me," she said, and

h, careful not to. "I was a coward. I thought if I told you

aid. "For abou

crossed his face. Hope,

d t

." She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand. "I'm still

hone

The unkno

each other. Adr

it on

ded so kind. "I'm glad you're safe. I k

is my m

not well, and she has not been well for some time. There are papers that would make things easier. A s

if I

to a woman in her condition, in a m

nto a fist so tight hi

what you found on the roof. I'll even have a car waiting." His voice softened f

ne wen

tood ve

she said. "If

ur mother's care, your father's trust, your

I won'

l hur

ghtened her more than anything. "So I'll g

ra,

which means tonight he's careless." She was already moving, shrugging his jacke

I can't l

something he'd been choking on for mon

reason," she

only one

rk and let him say it again, and again, until she believed it. But somewhere acros

use. The rain had stopped. Th

curb when his hand c

the way someone grabs a ro

ou go. There's one more thing abou

tu

ere a stone he'd carried for twenty-tw

. That's what she told you. That's what she believes.

re you

His eyes were wet. "Mine was the seco

eet wen

ung around the corner, engine snarling, tires hissing on the wet

door sw

that pleasant,

unn. "Mr. Cole. Get in. We've