uffocating blanket of guilt that Rory pulled over her head each night. There

one vi

the chasm that now lay between their lives. Corbin walked in wearing a drab gray jumpsuit, the vibrant, laughing boy she loved

ss, her hand shaking. "Corbin," she began, her

sion unchanging, as if she were a curious insect

he cold glass, the barrier between them. "I'm so sorry, Corb

ive. Finally, as if bored by the spectacle

. "My father had a heart attack when he h

er lungs turned to ice. She had

ne. "So don't you dare say you're sorry. You don't get to be sorry. What you owe me can't be paid back. This is just the beginning." He pl

nto the concrete, vomiting until there was noth

d grief turned into morning sickness. A drugstore pregnancy test conf

nly reason she didn't follow C

ears

ickering companion. Rory was on the floor, surrounded by fabric swatches and design sket

hed news anchor announced. "Freed after only a year in prison on a legal technicality that shocked the

head sn

more than her apartment. The years had sharpened the soft lines of his face into hard, unforgiving angles. He was broader, harder, colder. Th

built a global empire through a series of aggressive, often brutal, corporate t

ed to ice. He was

ed around her neck from be

hutting off the screen. She turned to see her daugh

e that was Rory's only salvation. And eyes. She had his eyes. The same deep, soulful sha

a smile as she scooped Willa into her

ified rhythm against her ribs. He was back

heck away from disaster. Willa had been born with a congenital heart defect, a ticking clock that required expensive medication and constant mon

Willa deserved better. She needed a

t her old laptop, updating her resume. She had a good portfolio

eone performing a ritual they knew was futile. The rejections, or more often the deafening silence, had be

t the darkness was

s he adjusted the cuff of his bespoke suit, a faint, silvery scar on his wrist caught the light-a permanent souvenir from a prison yard b

riness that hadn't been there before, but it was her. The file contained every detail of her life f

ce in the photograph. There was no warmth in his touch, no flicker o

his voice a low, dangerous rumble. "I want her to know what it's like to h

Miles, his eyes

to rui