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