a Schmi

penthouse floor, the brushed-steel doors slidin

runner, walking straight toward th

right shoulder, the effort sending a dull, throbbing ache through my ba

ehind her vast mahogany desk with a s

ding on the bloodstained bandage pee

shed, bureaucratic composure. "You shouldn't even be

mbling as the strain threatened to rip the unstitched muscle beneath my sleeve. "And transfer the

sigh, folding her han

et came directly from Mr. David's private terminal.

fteen this morning," I said, leaning in. "You have no legal ri

, reaching into a side drawer and

an arrogant smirk. "Fitzgerald mentioned that if you sign this formal retraction, admit to behavioral misconduct, and re

own at the

ly binding admission of guilt designed to s

e throwing the pieces straight into her face, "that I would rather scrub the flo

d over her desk, her face turning scarle

ait for he

y eyes fixing on the double mahogany doors at the ver

, my shoes making no soun

door was cracked open a fraction of an inch, a slive

sound of Fitzgerald's voice

and this time? Didn't I wire him a million dollars t

fr

m the brass handle, my bre

r? Cayma

fted through the gap, w

e franchise is worth now! He said if we don't wire another three million by Friday, he's going to send th

est s

eam of the door, peering

itzgerald's leather armchair, clutching the sle

ith terror, "that he's the child of an offshore card shark I slept with in Vegas... I'll be ruine

had known Coy wasn't a David, but hearing the mention of DNA reports

r spend money on his mistress's child-a child she'd had wi

gh-pitched buzz as the final piec

re calculated fraud than I'd imagined. Fitzgerald hadn't just lied about the

you think I don't know the stakes? Why do you think I swallowed my pride

mouth, my heart hammering

etely disconnected from the Boston social circle who would raise your bastard without asking questions, while generating paten

ree years flashed through m

guilt trips about being a good mother to Coy, the

an unhappy

calculated, p

my limbs, not from sorrow, but from a terr

eath, forcing the trembl

ne's microphone already p

audio waveform began to dan

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