corner on the second floor. Her heart hammer

he hem of her velvet dress and broke into a run, pu

here!" Meredith shrieked,

ng backward into a champagne tower. Crystal glasses shattered. Cham

ing a desperate rhythm on the marble floor, a black whir

wasn't supposed to fight back. She was supposed to crawl awa

ion. The bravado had been an act. Now she was running off to cry somewhere, heartbroken and

e revolving doors and i

to the curb. She stood at the top of the hotel steps, her eyes sca

with a large black u

ross the line of limousines and to

from the curb. A black Maybach, sleek

ed at her. He

down the steps and into the stre

scalp. It seeped into the velvet of her dress, chilling

the wet asphalt, shouting his

wave of grimy water onto her dress. She barely noticed. The Mayb

pain shot through her ankle as the thin

ped the expensive custom-made shoes fro

of her feet. She felt a sting as she stepped on a shard of glass,

her last life. From a distance, silent, as s

is time, she woul

stopped at

ed the last of her strength and sprin

she reached it. She threw herself against the back passenger win