The Female CEO's Obsession

ing wheel, scowling as I twist

left on this godf

e urge to grab the gun in my bag and

Valois-sur-Loire-had called me while I was at work. The mes

ke it was a hot potato and bolted out of the office. Tw

t felt like

to change. Not that I could've run it anyway-traffic wa

as if I could intimida

teau, right? He's wai

shful thinking. Why the h

ster? A friend? Just someone he happened

st tig

grown taller? Probably. B

tiful as him. No clue how so

first time we met. I

two of them were practically royalty in Crystalholm-business titans,

em politely, and then Ca

t step

e kind of big, luminous eyes you only saw in oil pain

m forward. 'Go on, s

ike lilt that somehow managed to be both hesitant and endearin

ted on

er wanted a little brother, but in

e around, let him talk in his slow, careful English, his German accent making each word sound like he was un

ntle. Like a porcelain doll

he left with h

an emptiness I

n yanked me b

n li

n the gas and sped

poetic, in a melancholic kind of way-the whole leaves unwillingly parting from their branches thing. If I were in a bet

pean countryside postcard. From the outside, it was all ivy-covered stone walls and old-world charm. Step inside, though, an

y car approached. A few guards stoo

acknowled

ng with impatience. The second I parked, I was out of the car, sto

ne, welc

standing there, ever the pi

s he?' I

masters are in the garden. Miss Linnea a

he's still here, b

en he'd figured it out. Worried about what it meant, about where it would lead. But over time, he ha

ally, was onl

took off, practically f

Anne...' His voice was soft, almost

n't a

n't w

, I knew exactly w

a good idea? Wi

knew the

t easy. It prob

t had never sto

n, I came to a halt, forcing

takable. My grandfather and Caspar, caught up i

willing to let them s

ially

rratic-not that I'd ever admit it. It had been a y

o

t

encounter until now-nineteen and still unnervingly, almost infuriatin

ng to do with soap and everything to do