His Wedding Day, Her Perfect Vengeance
a Wall Street king. I taught him everything, gave him an em
g. I heard the voice I had crafted call me his "warden,
as just th
cancer wing we built in memory of our stillborn daughter, Hope. He
ace, "Maybe if you hadn't been so obses
ire history, including our dead child. He thought he cou
ccepted. It' s important, after all, to give a man a day
pte
twelve years older
remembered every tim
ehind a dive bar in Queens, ble
rilliant and broke, fighting in illegal mat
a cornered an
s, not just for food, but f
as f
s res
r, the kind who could dominate Wall
took
d his debts, and gave h
to speak, how to gut a company fo
a quick
ley brawler to a hedge fund prodigy,
r greates
aster
cret h
e Kiley
rink legally, with a surgically perfected fac
iley, on Isiah' s arm, had looked Gloria
r voice dripping with mock reverence. "Isiah
a carefully c
inding Gloria in the quiet solitude of her
there, holdi
hear this," she said,
resse
s voice, giggling. "Tell
mooth and familiar. Th
by a low chuckle. "My beautiful
else?" Kil
an who thinks she owns me because
ued, each word a pre
ol, her pathetic sentimentalit
er a walkin
out flinching, her f
given him a world he could only dream of
out the cage, but he had forgotten he
ng ended, Kiley
e now," sh
he simply looked past Ki
owed by two security men. They were c
ria said, her voice cal
bject on the floo
lack stallion, a horse he had paid a million dol
ll, ugly sound that ec
the office
e with fury. He had a gun in hi
directly at Gl
tch," h
the gun. She met his eyes,
across the street aimed at
, but he didn
ontinued, her voice a low murmur. "Is
was no longer the boy she found in the alley, b
angerous. Polished by her
one too far
matics, Isiah.
dded s
started, and Isiah' s
ceiling of the living area, where a secti
was
the air, harnessed to a winch sy
rieked, her voice
rozen, as the winch slowly lowered her
said conversationally, "she drops ten feet. The floor
bbed, her mascara running in
Gloria, his eyes blazing wit
l kill
d the gu
guards materialized from the shadows of the penth
ackled wit
ded, but his gaze
d a single,
wn," she
eir weapons but di
nce between them in three quick strides, her movements fluid a
ack echoed in
attered to
e agony, and collapsed to his k
n at him, her exp
asked, her voice devoi
t beading on his forehead,
ed. "Please. She has n
" Gloria corrected him calmly. "She
safely to the floor. She scrambled out of the
er, pulling her close, murmuring
ia felt a strange s
a painf
hold her ju
them their daughter, Ho
silent hospital room, his arms a shield
ed, his voice thick with tears. "We' ll
y. He had even bought a tiny, handcrafted wooden horse,
e all the others,
ting a trembling finger at Gloria. "Isiah told me! Sh
in the air, sha
s voice rough. He knew that was the o
a way to absolve his own guilt for not being
al in Tokyo. A deal she
ng again, a theatr
s feet, pulling the y
st his chest as if s
before turning to leave, his eye
t this for the r