roup of dancing college students as a human shi

e ground-floor bar. Her breathing grew shallow. A

pointed to a bottle of bourbon on the shel

the bar counter. She scanned the crowd left

ass. She took a sip. The liquid

d back to a fogged-up ho

ent the entire meal cataloguing Serena's failures. Serena had fled the estate and found a dive bar in Brooklyn, where she had poured cheap whiskey down her thr

d at the wrong door. The l

mmanding asking if she was sure. She remembered answering not with words but with a kiss that tasted like whiskey and loneliness. Sh

She had expected him to leave a stack

ocument across the sheets. He had been fully dressed, his face carved from stone, as if

d absolute. "I need a wife with a clean background to secure my voting

hangover and disbelief. Any other woman might have laughed,

d signed with

to acknowledge each other in public. A non-disclosure agreement bound ever

n and had not fully processed the decision since. It s

ss the room. The sudden brightness stung h

glass. His dark eyes were locked onto the slender

sistant, followed his boss's gaze

he Mrs.?" Car

like this at midnight?" Lucas ask

ead. He pulled out his tablet and rapidly t

aid rapidly. "William Sinclair tried to force her into a mar

. The sharp sound made the nearby

the table. Then he pulled out his phone. His thumb moved across the scree

ainst her hip-a short, sharp pulse she had learned to reco

u still have a hom

world knew both her identity and the exact moment she would need to hear those words. She lifted her head just enough to se

nto the shadows of the corner booth. Her fingers tighten

revented him from watching. He leaned his shoulder against a pillar, his gaze never leaving Serena's corner. Carter, sensing the shif

ht of Lucas's distant stare made her do something stupid. She pulled

make it t

is grin sloppy. "Hey there, pretty thing. You look like y

er of gravity, fingers curling into the precise position to sei

the railing. He straightened, every muscle coiled. Besi

mained fixed on the scene below, a silent promise that if the drunk laste

from the crowd. He grabbed the drunk by the collar and hauled him backward. "You're done, budd

her hands. The guard gave her a bri

piercing laugh cu