of the heavy mahogan

at her temple. She forced her facial muscles to relax,

and knocked twice. The s

er Hector's voice

ke a physical blow. It smelled of stale cigar smoke

is reading glasses and tossed them onto a stack of

d out the photocopy of the marriage certific

black ink of Jaxson's signature. The deep wrinkle

tor said. "You made the necess

ashes. She stared at

y," she recite

ched inside and pulled out a tarnished velvet photo frame. He pu

dropped to

icture of

d. The air vanish

ice heavy with fake sentiment, "they would be incredibl

d straight thro

nging started in her ears, drown

ng headlights. The sound of metal crushing metal. Th

er stomach. Acid burned

n the thick Persian rug. Her arms flailed

great things from you, Kaia. They died on the way to

ds flew to the strap of her bag, her fingers digging into

king uncontrollably. "I have a script. An e

s eyes narrowing at her sudden loss of

hands scrambled for the brass doorknob. She ri

e

t tea splashed across the floor, shattering the porcelain cups. "Sorry," Kaia gasped, the word tearing from her throat automatically, a fleeting

the door open. She slammed it shu

down the solid wood of the d

houlders shook violently. She gasped for air, but her lungs refused to e

, her phon

dim room. Jaxson fla

cheeks. She stared at the phone for ten agonizing s

rating

lit up again. A text mess

in thirty minutes. P

ing sentence acted like a bucket of ice wate

face. She pushed herself up fro

the freezing water over her face, gasping at the shock. She looked i

sink. Her breathing slowly le

her knees and pulled her silver suitcase from un

ts. Toiletries. She shoved them int

er second in this house. She was going to her new