focating silence. I wiped the sweat from my forehe

rom him?" Her voice was

oice flat. "I won'

speration palpable. "Are you just going

bout you, Mother?" I asked, my voice dangerously low. "Do you care so much ab

other end. Then, a cl

nted to be home, in my own bed. He prescribed stronger painkillers,

tting gravel. He was driving fast, a blur of expensive metal and furious urg

wrong, but the car was already a distan

housekeeper explained, her voice hushed. "A severe hear

avy, dull ache. I k

le corridor, I saw Broderick pacing outside a room, his jacket askew, his tie loosened

r pain. He loved her so deeply.

sperate concern. We had been so happy once, before the misunderstandings, before th

And he was grievin

o disappear from his life forever, I could at least do one last thing for him. I could make his

ly a faint, forgettable memory. And in my next life

suitable heart donor was almost impossible

lled out the orga

dinator, my voice steady, betraying none of th

. A perfect ma

skin. I pulled the bottle of painkillers from my purse and, with a final,

eli

up my spine. A hand clamped down on my sh

him in a desperate struggle to get away. He had been obsessed with me then, and that obsession had never truly faded. He had come t

s voice a low growl. "Be with me, an

rful, was facing utter destruction. Justin's family, on the other hand, was untouchable, capable of crushing anyone w

his eyes gleaming with a disturbing intensity. "Look what he did to me." He gestured to the ugly scar that ran

stin Neal was a man who always got w