face darken

nds onto her desk a

y Col

n't even

ply wal

*

reached into her handbag an

cheek where the edge of the

sn't

h a damp tissue before

scar hardly ma

to the young woman she'd

hing oddly fami

her

fa

ally h

couldn't place where she'd seen

*

noon pass

ring to leave for the

ad

's back. He's home earlier than expected

rightened

el's

wasn't due unt

the project ahe

ther c

ape work on time,

be t

*

d into the quiet suburban

ate, her family's detached home sat in a pea

't extr

t was

orta

ed with

ins, owned a small prop

had provided their famil

roperty ma

evelopmen

ments

pany had been pushed t

h Adrian Blackwood's child, he'd never once s

mply to

s, we'll get thr

r father age al

ent properties simply to

de the decis

e to the

r her fat

tly

ed marriage might give her the

ry outstanding debt through th

mily s

ctly what s

lmost ever

ne to blame

*

pened before she

're

tepped out of the kitchen, wi

and freshly baked vege

finishin

smiled

Hel

nine, her paren

left with Avery

yed behind wi

r, Edward

arried, but they'd buil

very had re

tim

osest thing she'd ever

, had become the older brother

home yet?"

topped by the office

n sm

d be here a

ok exha

s and put y

ou when dinn

ank

*

the bedroom her father had

she marri

g had

le blu

ooksh

at overlookin

ined exactly as

irst time

t herse

iced an old photo album re

, she pic

had been taped back t

ly por

ill young

very perched hap

old brother stood

heir

anger, Avery had torn

her mother

one child o

dulled th

scars

lly turned

tograph stol

neath a magnificent oak tree in t

white summer dre

ugh the leaves, illumi

ir shimmered in t

cate fea

rkling

been effortle

'd fallen seriously ill duri

eded to recover had cau

her body never fully return

et

rci

al tra

seemed

ped looking at old ph

no

rl smiling back at her

hought cros

se

rkably similar t

een at Blackwood Capita

les were

es couldn't have

he ey

unmistakabl

ly closed

she couldn

refused to l