ced by the sound of hissing whispers. Fra

her. She landed on the dusty floor, her body trembling, a

spers faded, and her mind, against her will, was dragged back to that night. Th

he family. Seraphina, all smiles and sisterly affection, had handed her a

ptance, had drank it down

through her limbs. Seraphina had appeared at her side, her arm around Chloe's shoul

e, away from the music and the laughter,

Seraphina had whispered in her ear, and then

drowned out her cries. The drug was a fire in her veins, incinerating her reason, leaving only a primal, de

onsciousness slipping

see his face, only the sharp, powerful lines of his body and the clea

ze, clearly realizing he had walk

, her fingers latching onto the fabric of his suit

ng, begging him not

rug-induced haze, his eyes were the only thing she could see with any clarity. Ice-gray. Pie

scooped her into his arms and carried her no

e brief, agonizing moment. In that moment, as he held her under the stream, she saw it. The cuff of his dress shirt, soaked through and translucent against his wrist. Embroidered on the inside, small but unm

f confused sensations, of shame an

streaming through the window, and the spac

ed in a strong, masculine hand, followed by three words: "Call me if needed." No signature. No name. But the fragment from the bathroom-those letters, that elegant embroidery-had already sear

abbed the card and the note, and fled the Carlisle mansion. That act of fl

, hot against her cold skin, p

losed around the cool, smooth surface of the black card. She had neve

tside the door gr

oice hissed. "That's the Donov

s voice was thick with greed. "We ju

lock. It was the old master key

d. The rage was gone, replaced by sickening, predatory smile

epping into the room. She reached out to he

g backward on the floor until her back hit th

oom apart, his greedy eyes scanning every surface. "

had. They were like vultures, tearing at a carcass, their only concern finding the key to a fortune they