the Grand Regency and stumbled barefoot out

orn dress and plastering her dark hair to her face. She wiped the rain f

inside the small clutch she had ma

een lit up with

ingers, lifting the receiver to her ear as s

ng terrible happened at the

, reassuring voic

titude wind, punctuated by ragged, agonizing gasps

s voice was barely a rasp, trembling with sheer e

opped into a b

u talking about?

is voice breaking as if every word cost him blood. "Listen t

the speaker, followed by a sharp gasp and t

he screamed i

h her body. She sprinted toward the curb, her b

off balance. Dulce crashed down hard onto the filthy, flooded asphalt. Her knee split open, blood mixing with th

lt, splashing muddy wate

Hurry, please, I'll pay double!" she sobb

nd bloody legs, his eyes widening, but he slamm

o a halt in front of the thirty-story

asting an eerie, bloody glow over the wet marble pavement. Security guards in black rainco

or open and hit the

line!" an officer shouted,

his arm, her eyes

floor observation deck, a streak of jagge

ette in a dark coat tumbled over the railing, p

ly in the gale. The lightning cast his s

was

d came out of her mouth, only a

he wide plaza as his body slammed onto

and bright crimson blood

ai

g the hands grabbing at her arms, and threw

ed woolen coat. Dark blood welled steadily from the base of his skull, pooling

o... Kai,

against his chest, trying uselessly to push the life bac

ed to take our engagement photos in Cen

ingers twitc

struggled to form a syllable. His hand lifted an inch from the stone, as if try

ance wailed through the night, but

force, their gloved hands

ree men in immaculate charcoal suits stepping back into the revolving doo

sal digital billboard flashed the

es Hostile Takeover of Van

rashed through her

trust

halt at the curb, its doors flying

nsive mink coat stumbled out into the

a Copeland,

nd camera lenses flared continuou

furiously against the wet stone. Her face, usually composed in the chilly el