Chasing a Statue: Eight Years Lost

dull, heavy ache, and a sharp, stabbing pain radiated from her shoulder. She blink

quite a hit. The doctor had to put seven stitches in your scalp and another

d unreal. The only question that mattered

ought m

ope igniting in her chest. Maybe, just maybe, wh

ss Chloe Vance. She was quite fran

se. Why would he be here with his inconvenient, bleeding

s fumbled with the screen, the bright light hurting her eyes. She ignored the doze

s than ten seco

tear-streaked. Her arm, the one Brooks had grabbed, was wrapped in a pristine white bandage. The camera panned slightl

o full of a reverence Alex

o, a pathetic, broken little sound. "I was just so

ort and reassurance. "It's not your fault, Ch

ngle, perfect teardrop fell onto the bandage. The c

ire in her shoulder-it was nothing compared to the agony that ripped through her heart. He was comforti

n his world, Chastity was

It was a clean, sharp anger that burn

e call button

said, her voice shaking with rage. "I

door to her hospital room swu

as B

single hair out of place. His gray eyes were cold,

he said, his voice clipped and hard. "They said

g, Brooks. I'm doing it. Your sister smashed a bottle over my head

ce sucking the air out of it. "Don't be rid

rising. "And the only person she was frightening was me,

," Brooks said calmly, as

credulous. "What did you do? Take away

he stated, as if this were a severe and just se

vacation! A month-long stay at the Kane mansion, with you waiting on her hand and foot? You're not

said, though his eye

The realization hit her with sickening certainty. "Yo

an unseemly family matter

ower to make her pain invisible, to erase her assault

. "I gave you six years of my life. Was any of it real to

eading for a crumb of

d you marry me if yo

mething unreadable crossed his face

have made her heart leap,

ing a messy HR issue. "I will ensure you get the best medical care. I will compen

r wanting justice was

essel of a man, for nearly a decade. She had bent herself into a pretzel trying to pl

licited gift. Not one spontaneous touch. Not one word of genuine

nearly killed her, he wa

choed in the sterile hospital room. She laughed until tears

m with eyes that felt a hundred years old. "You

of pain through her skull. "You can keep your money,

as if she were a complex equation he couldn't

id, her voice dripping with venom. "So gener

ws, her body trembling with a rag

whispered. "Get