r-to-ceiling windows of the

he office was dark, lit only by the gray, stormy light filtering thro

e replay of Daxton

creen. Her voice, demanding ten percent o

nt is trying to scrub the video, but Daxton Phillips's network is pushin

e iPad and tossed it carelessly onto the desk. The

with contempt. "She's desperate for money, so she's whor

cket. He walked to the window, staring down at the micr

ing around. "Every single dime. Cut off her phone plan. Cancel her health

Leo nodded and quic

chair. He was going to the hospital. He was going to look E

ater, against the furious objections of her doct

She refused to spend another second in a hospital controlled by her brother. She pulled on a thin, beige trench coat over he

hospital lobby and int

to her skull, and her coat was soaked through. She stood under the narrow awning of the

ide. A red error

nt De

o her secondar

nt De

eyelashes. Clayton had done it. He had executed a total financia

, its tires hissing against the wet asphalt. It s

Through the heavily tinted, b

t clung to her fragile frame. She looked incredibly small, broken,

instinctual reaction that he couldn't control. It was the ghost of Chace's lo

r handle. He was going to pull her out of the rain.

hed the cold met

loom. Because the car was idling so close to the curb, Clayton's

oming to get

antly vanished, replaced by a roaring,

hard his teeth ground together. She wasn't waiting in the r

river, his voice as cold as liquid

the gas. The heavy M

ext to the curb. A massive wave of freezing, dirty water s

ck, stumbling backwar

f wet pavement. The carbon-fiber foot had no tra

into the concrete, and she landed s

out of her eyes. She looked up just in ti

DWE

ide. He had seen her, spla

ing in the mud, completely drenched and abandoned. He forced himsel

phone and dialed

ce to sound gentle. "I'm on my way to t

didn't cry. The rain washed the mud from her face, but it c

concrete. She ignored the screaming pai

There was no more hesita