The Price of His Perfect Life

ures. They bought me a life in a sleek Central Park ap

om his high school friend, Karis. She soaked my hands i

I thought a baby would fix the peeling s

e was a mask of cold fury. He

f the car, and told me he was leaving me there to t

father of my unborn child, left

ands and my career; he w

from fear to ice-cold rage. I would not let his

broken, I looked him in the eye and t

king down the mountain, towar

pte

as a strange, u

e small ceramic bowl at the nail salon. Karis Manning, t

Karis said. "It's all the rage in Europ

as

like a prince from a storybook, promising a world of glittering parties and

the world. Her han

igures, they paid for the sleek apartment overlooking Central Park an

life was

ing to a prickling heat, then

hands from the

onto the pristi

g?" Karis asked, h

The skin around her nails was tu

lare said, he

Karis said, reaching for a towel. "

ir engagement party an hour ago, a smile that had made something in Clare's stomach tw

r chair scraping against th

er fixed smile behind. The cool evening air did no

r of panic. It was an accident. A bad reaction. It had to

as peeling around her nail beds, tiny blisters forming under the surfa

as glowing, high off t

said, kissing her foreh

g, the Hamptons house, the children-but

for a week finally demanded attention. In the master bathroom, h

ink l

gna

r baby. This would fix everything. It would anchor them, eras

y, looking over schematics

e said, her

of impatience in his e

pregn

tretched. His face was a mask of cool ne

folded the pap

id, his voice flat. "W