The Stand-in Wife's Deception

d of decaying paper, binding

history always left a scar. I ran the pad of my index finger down the tight inner seam of a 192

awless. Page 412 ran straight

r too tight. Someone had taken a razor blade to page 413 eighty years ago, lifted the record ou

finding in my notebook. Probable excision, zoning v

e the real story lives. Ev

ement reading room opened

n't f

shipping empire as his personal kingdom and my sister and me as furniture in it. He was

is silk tie was yanked loose. His

was thin. It had lost its boom some

glasses up. "If you need Vivienne to co-sign another loan

nne is

ed in the room

down very slowl

e security cameras in the corners, then away, as if the shadows might be listening. "There's a significant amount of bloo

hum seemed sud

arrogant for her own good, but she was not a victim. She was an apex

dy cataloging. "And why are you covering up

rchestrate an illegal short-squeeze on Croft Industries stock. To buy her way out of the arranged marriage. She borrowed four million from people you do not cros

ariable snapp

aster of the city's digital underworld. The Vance shipping empire was drowning, and Arthur had o

ony is in forty-eight hours. If Croft finds out she tried to short his stock and that she's now miss

ething darker. A calculation. He was looking at my face -

chair back so the legs scraped agai

listen

t know how to walk in stilettos, I don't know her friends, and I certainl

g enough for the ink to dry and the funds to transfer. We'll keep you veiled. Once the money clears, we can 'disc

as willing to feed me to a

ar, a cold, analyt

he would have secured leverage. She had access to Croft's estate for weeks during the engagement. If she stole something from him

ve left an a

torms rolled in after our parents' funeral. But if I stepped into the cage, I would have access to the mo

out where these creditors took her, Arthur. Because if I survive this wed

he threat. He only car

e began an

g, custom-boned corset. They painted Vivienne's blood-red signature onto my lips. They pinned my hair into an imma

was dead. Long

iron doors of the

ered them. My focus narrowed to the end of the long aisl

lute stillness of a predator that had already calculated every exit

through the lace of the veil. I forced my chin up and channe

e last step. His grip was firm and warm. His fingers were rough - callused, scarred

ushed the side of

stop

of skin from years of holding a pencil. The one thi

d his gaze back to my veiled face, and the corner o

exactly

," he