The billionaire's undying love for me.

with a white handkerchief folded on my nightstand and a crumpled note under my pillow. Every time

etter than choc

id he

at I wouldn't text Daniel, and that I would eat something. I had broken the first promise at 2 a.m., when

under a minute. Of

w the phone a

ast and burnt coffee, which meant Mum was already up. I came into the

Lily, setting down her

" Mum

ks like a ghos

I said, si

ns, studied me over the rim of his cereal b

hy would yo

n who makes you cry. And he

over, cupped my face in her warm, rough hands, and looked at me th

said softl

climbed onto my other side and hugged me from behind, and even Noah st

e," I whispered. "Yesterday

w a flash of something fierce under her ge

d to do th

. "You gave that boy three good years. Don

y baseball bat

have a ba

n get

urt a little, b

t the day before. The park looked different in daylight. Greener. Smal

wearing the blue jacket I had given him last Christmas. He looked tir

d. I pulled it away. "Babe, I'm so glad you tex

dn't come home, or the part where you were ki

ce wen

n exp

ase

he gym. It was nothing. She kissed me,

lding her ha

grabb

her back for a

yes darted around like he was looking

ame out steadier than I felt. "I'm not going to thro

. A pigeon sto

he said at las

during those seven months. I had sat through his mother's awful

simply went quiet, like a light turn

," I

up, hopeful. "Okay

we're

, wai

our anniversary. I dropped it when I saw you." I gave a small, tired smile. "I th

, ple

note from my pocket and held it where he could see

d. "What? No. Why would I? It wa

? Not your

r." He frowned harder. "

etely real. That scared me

ote away. "Goo

my chin high, exactly as Mum had said. I made it all

u'll regret this! No one else i

e, strangled noise, and when I glanced back, he was star

... who

urn

e same car from yesterday. A broad-shouldered man in a dark suit stepped out of the driver's seat. He was somewhere

p to me and gave a s

ng. My name is Marcus. I

g noise behind me. "Blackw

e you this." He handed me the leather folder. "And to tell you th

. "How could he po

sional, but his mustache twitched. "I

older with tre

s, the same proposal Adrian had called forgettable, the same one I had rewritten at midnight three

t night. It was not forgettab

e man who didn't know how to say sor

t. It was a staff ID, but not the usual blue one. This one was black, with

Assistant

this?" I

"Effective tomorrow, eight o'clock sha

oing to

't want special treatment, and that you were pe

was exactly what I h

or. He said the assistant who works for him must be able to survive him,

M

Blackwood for eleven years. I have never once seen him stand outside a

d, treacherous thum

gain, gave Daniel one polite, devast

e the black car purred away, and Daniel sat frozen

in my pocket. An

I did, because curiosity ha

oice again, even through the pho

take this job. I don't e

k," he said, as if I ha

in. My puls

es

though he were choosing his words care

ot your family. Not yet. There is someone in my house who would use yo

ne wen

lack card and a dead phone, while one q

wood mansion alr