ing his features. He withdrew a silk pocket square and deliberately wiped his fingers,

ing blue or the sun setting in the west. "You will carry the Astor name for the rest of your life. You wil

t had fueled her desperate act of defiance, evaporated, leaving a cold, heavy dread

he asked, her voice hollow. "What wil

and predatory. "Let you go? Who, then, will let I

fortress of grief and hatred, and she was the prisoner trapped inside its walls. In the suffocating s

t save her, perh

wavering. "Fine," she said, the word brittle. "You want to hear it? I'll say i

le, fleeting moment, shock registered in his eyes, a crack in his icy facade. Then it

up. His face was inches from hers, his breath hot with whiskey and r

It made the lie easier to tell. "I killed her," she repea

dawned in his eyes. He had broken her. He had finally extracted t

looked at her as if she were something he'd s

oor. He bent down, picked up the main document, and strode toward the massive stone fireplace wh

rown, and then erupted int

said, his back still to her as he watched her

tsteps echoing on the marble. The heavy doors swung shut be

strings cut. A violent tremor wracked her frame, a delayed reaction to the horror of what she had just done. She stared

d just handed her jailer the key and