Gen

vate clinic, her knuckles bloodless. Sweat pasted her hair to her forehead. She was alone, thousa

urious. A moment later,

ace a kind blur, placed a swaddled bundle in the crook of her left arm, and another in he

ust. The burning need for revenge cooled, replaced by a

day, N

spread out below him like a conquered kingdom. In his hand, he rolled a small, broken pear

othing, sir. No entry or exit records matching her descr

ttered against the wall, the sound sharp as a gunsho

n growled, the word

skin. The desperate, defiant heat of her body beneath his. The taste of her blood on h

er breathing shallow from whatever drug they had given her. He had dragged himself upright, ignoring the fire in his veins, and checked her pulse. She was alive. He remembered pulling the torn

pale face and trembling pulse beneath his fi

rs later

polished floor of Charles de Gaulle Airport. Her movements were fluid and confident, her face a mask of coo

sses. His fingers flew across the surface of a tablet, his expression one of intense concentration. He was re

utched a giant, rainbow-colored macaron. She beamed at a stern-faced

older, but no less beautiful. "Merci," she said to the flight attend

etailed analysis of the Price family's corporate finances, highlighting several exploitable lo

lips. She ruffled Theo's hair.

" she whispered, her voice muffled by the macaron

in Theo's hair. T

ce perfectly even. "We're going back to take back wh

York." The results returned images of the same lion-within-a-shield emblem he had glimpsed once when his mother thought she had thrown away all remnants of that night-a small, tarnished

ia looked out the window at the familiar, jagged sk

nal. The door of the lead vehicle opened, and Julian Carlisle stepped out. He was here t

maternal elegance. Theo sat perched on a suitcase, tablet in hand

n the cover of Forbes was a stern-faced man in a bespoke suit. She tugged at

aption read. He frowned, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his small fa

l from her lawyer, to notice the exchange. In that split second of dist

nd and shot off like a

iece feeding him a stream of infuriating argument

eadfirst into the leg of his impeccably tailored trousers. Her macar

al contact, moved as one. Two of them drew their weapons, their movements swift a

h. He was about to utter a cold dismissal when he saw her face. She was looking up

apped up. Her heart stopped. She saw Izzy, a tiny pink dot

oned the cart and ran, her hee

oice cutting through the

sible recognition shot through him. It was a voice he'd heard in his dr

ring of onlookers. Her

The noise of the airport, the panicked crow

er body screamed a warning. A primal, instinctual fear coiled in her