g on the bed, still watching the lights of the Pinnacle Estat

be instead of her armor-suits, and her face was bare of makeup, vulnerable in

said n

wrong. But your father was under tremendous pressure. The scandal with your birth mother, the questions about-" She

. The nails were perfect ovals, manicured weekly

Keira

ant a position. Something suitable. The Vaughn Family Foundation has a board seat opening. You'd

n your own. The vocabulary of a world where indepe

Keir

hand withd

a career. I don't n

s peeling away. "Keira, be realistic. Those aren't careers. They're hobbies for pe

w, putting glass and darkness between herself and her

ts you without family support." She walked to the door, pulled it open, didn't close

She stood at the

. "Absolutely ungrateful. Seventeen percent and she wants mor

hen she fails, she'll come back. The important thing is

ise. "That woman and her art. Her principles. Died penniless and alone, and

Elena must have close

e shallow, fast. Her hands found the windo

dy for wanting what was hers. Dif

onstellations in the glass dark. Somewhere in that fortress, a man she d

t, and she would use whatever he offered,

couldn't touch. Something they

ling interview process she had completed in Paris, nor the encrypted offer letter she had accepted three days ago. Tomorrow morning, she wouldn't be the disgraced Vaughn daughter begging for scraps. Tomorrow, she would walk