h before

horne estate chimed midnight. Each chime was a small death,

, a silent sentinel over a d

favorite. A Black Forest cake, her own clumsy but heartfelt creat

g over his contact. Instead, she opened a n

Thorne Dines with Socialite

e as ever, but he wasn't pushing away the hand Sienna had pla

warmth in her ch

and a cloyingly sweet perfume clung to him like a second skin. He

he asked, his voice

, her limbs feeling stiff.

th a familiar, dismissive coldness. "Adaline, don'

do you want this time? A new piece of jewelry? Or does that faili

ise. They found the most vuln

nd shameful. She refused to let them fall. S

Her voice was

hing unreadable in his eyes before they went fla

daline. It's a contract. Stop pretending it's anything more." He leaned in, his voice drop

five years. The man she had rearranged her entire world for. And in that moment, she saw nothing lef

ound escaped her li

slightly, reached

alarm in his eyes. He thou

urned to the c

the knife in

ers of chocolate and cream she had so carefully constructed. Smears of black and w

back, his cold composure finally

udged with frosting, but her eyes we

said, her voice steady now

. She turned and ran up the grand st

She threw them onto the table in front of him. They slid across

d. Her signature was a sharp, angr

y," she said, each word a p

tled. He stared at the papers, then at her fa

k on him, on the ruined dinner, on the wreckage of their

rmal letter from h

message from her. It co

re f

. Just another one of he

know it wa