Abused broken and Rejected

A sharp, splitting pain lanced through Alexandrea Terry's skull. It was the first thing she felt, a brutal welcome back to consciousness. Her eyelids were heavy, glued shut like they were sealed with lead.

A scent invaded her senses next. It wasn't her own perfume. It was something expensive and foreign, a deep, woody cologne that clung to the air, tangled with the stale smell of champagne.

She tried to shift, to push herself up, but her limbs felt disconnected, a dull ache radiating from every joint as if her bones had been replaced with sand.

The slide of silk sheets against her bare back sent a jolt of pure ice through her veins.

Bare.

Her back was bare.

Panic seized her heart, a cold, tight fist squeezing the air from her lungs. She forced her eyes open.

The room swam into focus. It was vast and opulent, a crystal chandelier dripping from the ceiling like a frozen waterfall. This wasn't her room. This wasn't any room she had ever been in.

She turned her head on the pillow.

And met a pair of cool, gray eyes.

A man was propped up on the pillows beside her. His chest was bare, a landscape of lean, defined muscle that tapered down to the crisp white sheet covering his waist. He was brutally handsome, his face a collection of sharp angles and stark lines, and he was watching her with an unnerving calm.

He was Ace Griffith, but she didn't know that. All she knew was the terror clawing its way up her throat.

A scream formed, but it died before it could escape. She scrambled backward, dragging the duvet with her, pulling it up to her chin like a shield.

There was no lust in his eyes. Only a quiet, assessing intensity.

"Who are you?" Her voice was a dry, ragged whisper.

He didn't answer. His gaze flickered to a half-empty glass of champagne on the bedside table.

Then, a noise from the hallway. Footsteps, frantic and loud, accompanied by a high, shrill voice that made Alexandrea's blood run cold.

"Right here! I saw her with my own eyes, the shameless girl, bringing a man into this room!"

Ivette Terry. Her adoptive mother.