The Midas Touch of Vengeance

s, my voice barely a whisper. "Mark, we're ma

e life we had built, a life now fracture

sound, as if my emotional

glass. "Love is a luxury. Power is a necessity. What you gave me

ass down with

a symbol of hope and sacrifice. The world adores her.

and down, his

but not the right one for the story I'm building now. Your family's name will protec

blow, designed to diminish m

ears blurring his cold, handsome f

ped, but his smile remained. It was a predator's smile. "And you will continue to be. You'll stay here, in the penth

my stomach clench with fear.

. Everyone will assume we have an arrangement. The powerful do these things. It will be

the sheer cruelty of it all. The man I l

e woman I was just twenty-four hours ago. The golden sheet from last night

softening into something that sounde

That's why I'm making sure you're taken care of. You have everything you

gesture that was once comfor

proud of our marriage, of what we represent. A scandal would devastate her. Her healt

veil of fake affection. My mother's we

e, replaced by a cold, heavy resignation. He

the man who was my husband and now m

hispered. "I'll d

ed this time. "Good girl.

lked towards the door, a man in compl