ed of old paper

ago. She was still in the maid's uniform,

land a plane on. He wasn't looking at her. He was l

saying. "The rumors of my health are exag

off and turned the w

ntries. He slid a thick docume

greement," she read t

he said. "Publicl

're joking. You assaulted me last night, held me

board thinks I'm dying. They think I have no heir, no stabil

d rathe

rather your

left t

est legal team in New York. He walks free in a week. Or..." He shrugged. "H

him. "You are

busine

she lied. "Grant. H

led. It wasn't a sm

"Your fiancé hasn't called the police. He hasn't

re ly

ushed a landline

r. She dialed Grant's n

Ring

the Mann bankruptcy, please contact my a

ic

n her ear. It sounded

ugustine said softly. "Rats

est. Not at Grant. At the man sitting in f

ut

desk. Her appraiser's eye registered it instantly. A clumsy imitation, probably from the late 20th

t up, her

inch. He didn't dod

id, her voice dripping with contempt. "This vase, you

AS

se against the marbl

e skin. No, not blood. A shard of porcelain had r

spun slightly from the impact. He sl

ait to see i

rd sitting on the

natch

e

was ice cold. The alarm began to blare-a high-pi

breach!

where she was going. She just

through a

al blow. It was still stor

et grass, toward the

stop

round

below, the ocean smashed against jagged black

dock. No boathouse. Just wa

s Ma

pun a

e, blocking her path back to the house. They didn't

rowd

e rolled

le. It was soaked red. Blood trickled do

angry. He looke

e chair ten f

," he

n a loose stone. It tumbled over the

ha

The cut on his forehead was deep, jagged. "If you

he swirling death be

utting through the wind, "you come back inside

hat," she whispere

nsurance report will say it was a three-million-dollar antiq

d. It was covered

, Aislinn. D

her father, alone in a cell, unable to speak properly.

d away fro

d toward

to her knees in the wet grass in

hed out and gripped her chin,

"Now we go to the mainland.