rine'
ly, the empty wine g
hat was the plan, I could see it on his face. He expected me to cry, to run t
glass down and lo
her bag. "The three-million
th dropped ope
Isabella. Every dollar he used to buy you that thing came out of my account first." I
ched the bag to her chest. "Th
now and explain to this entire cabin exactly whose credit built Conti Tech. I've got the bank reco
pale unde
ight to my face for six years, yet the moment his precious
ice was tight. "Ju
ha
r the br
nked the box out of her bag and shoved it at me, her che
it. It's c
cheap. We b
and clicked the clasp shut.
anything. "For the seat swap. You offered it.
rs pretending not to watch, at the flight attendant hovering with
utes ago like it was pocket change." I smiled at him, and it w
ks blotchy with color. For once in
ed out his
he check free and slap it into my palm like it physically hu
end act gone. "Happy? You got your money. Now do us
ght," I said.
ulder. I was done. I didn't need the last word. I just needed to get away from him before the
ght," I said.
the economy curtain. I could not bear to sit within
an sit
, faintly amused. The kind of voice that assumed the
ed. I s
t should have been impossible, because looking at him
at made the wide business-class seat look small a
older than skin. He was looking at me, and only me, wi
w I knew that. I just did. It came
e him were empty-all of them.
d no. I opened my
exact moment to
business." Marco let out an
here anyway. Go on, Catherine. Take your m
spine. I turned to
ifted one hand. Just barely.
was
rialized at Marco's shoul
the diamond bracelet was gone, "I'm going to need you to return to your s
"I-what? I paid
w,
mistakable. Marco's fac
looked, for the first time. And wh
He didn't say
buzzing with suppressed gossip
ted. Who was this man that a single flick of his fingers could
he said
sense I had left t
at
a and stormed off wit
alking off toward the pickup lane where I already knew a car would be waiting, because
alone with my carry-
hower, sleep, and deal with
I called home-a cramped, aging place with a na
pid part of me still believed that family meant having som
have know
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