to a crawl, Jered leaning on the horn until the wrought iron b

y duty's done. Remember t

e gravel drive. She stepped out, her coat catching the wind, and the Porsche was gone befo

tood

importance before they spoke a word. She had grown up here. She had left at seventeen and sworn never to return. The p

ged from the portico, moving with the car

s Ke

the black hair Keira remembered, but her eyes were the same-warm

ght. She cleared her throa

t and let it go, reaching for Keira's hands instead. Her fingers were warm,

ris fed me fine. I just..

e and had hidden under the stairs with a book instead of attending her moth

dead watching from their gilded frames. Keira's footsteps echoed. Sh

ring leaves. Her tea service was laid out on the low table, porcelain thin enou

ira's shoes to her unmade-up face. "And that's what you're

Keira said. "It

." Annette set down her cup with a delicate clink.

o had never walked on uneven ground. Her hand reached out, ad

s a gesture of respect from the Knox family

e calculation in her eyes. The hope that

up as witness, I assume. And the offer was ten million dollars, in

h several expressions-shock, then rapid reca

he important thing is

pected nothing. She had still hoped for something. The ho

ting her back to her mother, to this room, to

. Beyond that wall, the land rose sharply to a second estate, more modern, more severe. Gl

empty, the lights kept off even at night as if the ho

oward evening, lights burned in tho

turning. "Has someone mov

following her gaze. She lowered

ger one. He's taken residen

ir who had built Imperium Group into something that dwarfed the Vaughn and Knox fortunes

tate-of-the-art surveillance array pivoted smoothly, its lenses focusing directly on the Vaughn dr

frame. Her fingers press

om JFK. They had monitored her through Jered's tant

as sharp. "What are you st

k, let her shoulders drop in a posture

Jet lag. I

a teenager, that would be hers again for this interlude. She didn't

ette's voice, pitched for

cult. I don't know how J

nd out who Glynn Hayden was. She would need to know why she had become interesting to

to know if she