he Queen's M

d shut behind Avery, the sound echoing like a gun

ad been a prison gate. Tonig

tairs, watching as a fleet of six obsidian-black Rolls-Royces glided silently up the driveway. Their headlig

and burgeoning fury. He was still holding the signed divorce paper

was shaken. The voice she had used-the sheer authority in it-was haunting him. "Who a

rn around. She

single strand out of place. This was Marcus Thorne-no relation to Melanie, much to Marcus's eternal disgust. He was the Chie

thing more than a stray pebble on the path. He stopped in front o

arcus said, his voice carrying clearly in the night air. "T

ging. "Marcus Thorne? You're the COO of the Woods Group!

ve spent three years married to the sole heiress of the Woods global empire. The fact that you didn

Lucca over her shoulder. The wind caught

as a diamond. "You didn't marry a placeholder. You married a predato

Firs

inally snapping. "You're still my wife until these pa

ry's personal security detail-twins who moved with the synchronization of ghosts. In one fluid motion, L

President," one o

" Avery comm

t the pillar, gasping, his pride disintegrating faster than his stock options. He

er interior, Marcus handed he

y said, her fingers fl

car began to move, leaving the villa-and Lucca-behind in a cloud of dust. "They were ex

By noon tomorrow, I want every vendor associated with the Woods Group to cease all shipments to Valentin

idden

olis glowing like a crown of electricity. At the center of it

her eyes. "And Melanie? W

sting a 'Celebration of New Beginnings' party. She's been telling the press

rous light flickered in them. "She's usi

the tabloids," Marcus added,

the front steps of the Valentine villa a month ago. The headline read:

entally unstable and that Lucca was "charitably

led. It was the kind of smile t

" Avery said. "We aren't

to, M

ow a party for her 'new beginning,' it would b

tires screeching as they per

et box from the hidden compartment in the car's armrest. Inside was a necklace-the Blue Heart

t just have a voice," Avery whispered, clasping the

rpet, Avery's phone buzzed. It was an e

tched as she

he hunter is already in the tree. Look