tween us crack

urned sharp, too thick to swallow, like the weight of the

ngers that used to brush the hair from my face. This wasn't him; this man had steel in his jaw, a darkness

managed to say, my

en. "You've been hired to fix a contract that binds my assets to the

ough my vision blurred around the edges, "involves laundering, blood money

t with satisfaction, like my disco

slow and calculated. "If you walk, you walk into the fire. If you stay, you wo

ned. "Are you t

ring you

ow composed he was, and how easily h

d right in front of me. He didn't touc

emble rising in my hands. "Out of all

s something he used to love an

ould dare speak to me

dragged me out of obscurity. He wanted someone fearless, someone with a

, pressing my palm against the lea

teady. "But not for you, for me. Because walking aw

er, no approval, no o

do more than fix i

ood f

ha

this was casual, like we weren't

ign it as

e s

re in

, a contract marriage, two years., public, legal, and binding. That gives me f

id, stunned. "You need a shie

hame. "And you need prote

ined with silk, which is bette

my pulse roar

me. If I walked out of here, I'd still be tied to him. My name was already inked on his

d my back. "O

slow nod

don't answer to your underbosses. And if I catch

f you disappear,

d myself firs

e a dea

nded hi

hand had held me once

ook

the bloodiest contract of m

night was polished. Two men in tailored suits stood at

ad b

e of them, the taller man with

rything's ready at

nsed. "New

oving in

urse

e SUV and left my

had ruined my name, of the press that had called me a disgrace, of the bar that had almost stripped me off

d ch

help

as quiet upon

ce, but the kind that comes from s

car, and the staircase curled like a question mark.

shirt without a tie, holding a glass of something amber in his

down the ha

you

ed for the public, but behind closed d

ore than I

ss pretending

ed pas

di

top

for the media. They'll expect u

d to fa

ll me wha

n wear whatever you like

my new room and sat o

re was no space for

beat was

back into his world, not out

to survive him