'S

, but I knew exactly what I was doin

ted, and tired of pretending I still

ruthless corporate tyrant, and the man wh

wasn't jus

hat would unravel everything I though

sley Enterprises that d

t blouse, heels that pinched, and

belong, like the scent of desperation I carr

f the conference room glass and decided I was the

g up. Just like that, without even ch

that the world rotated to

r to my old life closed with a soft cli

lated, in a chair that proba

hrough every wall I had ever built. And still, I walked toward him,

Let's not waste time pretendin

tung more than

nd him that once upon a time, I wasn't j

lass, full scholarship, and e

before th

as arrested, my mother disappeared, and

tions," I said,

ound. "You think you're in

es

forward.

sleep w

n't flicker.

an exit

ears m

ntrol me. Not outside th

n how convincingly

With a hand that didn't shak

, survival means

y? He was a devil

been thr

I th