e had married was gone, replaced by a ruthless businessman closing a

any emotion. "Terminate all contracts with the Miller Group. Effective immediately.

ents' small, struggling c

stomach. "Alistair, no," she breathed

is eyes never leaving hers. "Of course, I can,"

able. "Sign the papers, Chloe. If you sign, I'll call it off. Their company sur

. The man who had once held her face in his hands and promised to lov

ent people," she said sl

replied, his voice flat, "if i

," Chloe whispered. Not

swer. He did

lives of the only two people in the world who had eve

is monster who wore her husband's face, and saw nothing but a stranger. Every sacrifice, every

color of her future. With a final, shuddering breath, she signed

t something inside her snap. The final thread con

ward him. Her voice was steady now. Empty. "

table. There was no triumph in his

ptibly. "Jed will take you. Go somewhere quiet. Start over. I'

Alistair, buried beneath the cruelty? Had some part of him finally remembered the years they had shared, the love that had once existed between them? Her heart, battered and bruised, grasped at the thread of hope like a drowning woman clutc

There was no mercy there. Just convenience. Just the easiest way to

tly, "is blood money. But

Tucker. He had driven her for years. His face wa

d called home. Then, with her body aching and her s

ead against the cool glass, watching the familiar streets blur into

ceding, replaced by the dark, winding roads of the

hrough her exhaustion. "

were empty, hollowed out. "Mr. Carlisle's orders,

es of a steep coastal road. A wooden sig

s a local landmark, infamous for the number of

nds flying to her stomach.

full-blown terror. This wasn't a qu

pulling at it frantically. It wa

ut!" she screamed, beating h

rearview mirror. He pressed his foot dow

, his voice a monotone. "Th

divorce. It wasn't just banishment. H

was crying for the tiny life inside her-the life that would never get to see

o her unborn child. "I'm so

before the cliff's edge. There was no one el

e of instinct, she curled her body into a tight ball, wrapping her arms around her abdomen, creating a human shield for the tiny, precious life within her. It was the la

whispered. "

screech of tortured metal. For a moment, the vehicle was airborne

they

ipped through her body, a blinding white agony that swallowed everything. And then, t

t darkness, a heartbeat continued.

o was