a stared at the frozen frame of the video on the table

ue grandfather clock standing against t

smoothly, "you need to s

vision blurred with un

eps echoed on the marb

t her ribs. She turned her h

ked into

eached up with one hand and unbuttoned his suit jacket as he walked. The move

topped b

She saw it on the news channels playing in the campus

Hilbert

n boy of the Wilkinson political dynasty. And he was

ted. Her fingers dug

was

k. But here, in the cold, clear light of the mansion, she saw they weren't black at all. They were the color of slate-gray, like a stormy sky

thout even glancing at her. H

he said, givi

or the first time, his slat

her the way a mechanic looks at a broken engine. He was asses

re. She instinctively crossed her arms ove

sounded on television. It was a low, gravell

his is

est. This is her. She wasn't a person. Sh

floor. "Hilbert, sit down. Now that everyo

his long legs. He looked entirely relaxed, yet his p

unced. "The two of you will go to City

hat? No! Absolutely not! Yo

ept his eyes on his grandmother. He a

Hilbert said, his tone flat. "There are m

this si

again. Did he mean paying her off? Or

ith her cane again. The sha

g she disappears? And then waiting for the media to discover that the

rt. "This is the first heir of the Wilkins

truly believe a single mother, working at a coffee shop, can provide a saf

ned the paparazzi. She imagined the cameras shoved i

She fell back

randmother was right. A scandal of this magnitude, right befor

inal blow. Her voice lef

She looked at the butler. "Pembroke, call City