felt like a coffin. The air wa

d lethal. He reached out, his fingers gripping Ever's ch

don't know him. But... the way he looked at me. It was lik

yed into his hero complex. It playe

ng for deceit, but seeing only genuine fear-fear of Clarence exp

"He started as a pit fighter in Vegas. Illegal matches. Killed a man with his bare han

who used to braid her hair when the other girls made fun of it. The b

s voice taking on a possessive edge. "

hausted from the hospital run and the terror, started to s

arkness was inviting. Her head lulled to the sid

drif

sleep, but the hand didn't pull away. It guided her head down

er mumbled into his ja

spered back. He stroked her hair. The tend

d at the penthouse,

of the seat. There was no romance in the gesture, only the efficient handling of a valuable acquisition. He carried her through the lobby, his fa

with clinical efficiency, sliding the silk

he bent to pick it up, her personal phone sl

essful: $5,000 s

er passcode-he had insisted on knowing it from d

y transfers. Thousands of

tion service her foster parents used," he muttered to himself. He looked at Ever's sleeping form with a m

cret child; he saw a weak woman shackled by a debt of grati

woke up disoriented.

tantly. She checked the p

ad he seen the texts

untouched. The messages app was closed. But t

seen th

gs shaking. Garrick was eating break

a thick file folder across

this?" Ev

said, turning a page. "I'm putting you in

der. The irony was so

hy

"And because if you're going to throw money away on lost causes, do it with

for her foster parents. Relief washed

Makes you look less like a mistress and mo

ead," Ever said,

er, and kissed her for

ed behind him, Ever picked u

shoved the folder in. She listened t

his charity. She