ra Voss didn't just walk she owned the space the second she entered,

-

y slipped fro

ls clicked like gunshots against the polished floor as she stalked into th

ndra

She was the woman everyone wanted to be or wanted to be with. And she was cur

voice dropping an octave into a dan

perfect time. I came to get the rest of my things, and what do I fi

re body screamed to shrink, to disappear into the leathe

I cleared my throat.

didn't even glance at me, his cold, gray eye

predator than pretty. "So it's true. You're replacing me already. What

the first time, I heard somethin

n just waltz into this world because he throws you a bone? Do you know what they'll do to you? The

he wasn't entirely wrong. I was no one. I didn

could respond

n the back of my chair close enough to feel his presence like heat radiati

of vulnerability in her eyes. It was gone in an instant, replac

it down. The crash echoed like a gunshot,

gh the door, leaving the air heavy with tens

-

m fell

the floor. Liam didn't move immediately. He just stood there, s

urned to me.

alized he was scanning me, his gaze briefly

ed in my chest, and I

that," he said, his voice

hould laugh or cry. "So...

ipped the word lik

aguely toward the shattered va

ting calm, as if explosive exes were

needing to put space between us. "I should... I should think about t

e, sharp and assess

stranger for six months. For money. And apparently, I'll be

what might almost pass for a smile. "Y

rms. "And what

simply. "And in six months, your father's s

d. He wasn't wrong. Every part of me wanted to scream that this was

feated voice when he told me last week, "Maybe we should

ched m

urprising even my

ecting my answer all along. He picked up t

gn

I scribbled my nam

a storm rumbled a fitting

was studying me with an

ct," he said softly. "

-

o walk me through the rules. I was to move into the penthouse immediately. I was to accompany Liam

a pointed glance, "every move you

ck, my brain was spinning. I stared at the city lights outside t

months of my life to

was the bravest woman ali

-

in a daze. I barely noticed the cracked pavement or

e door, arms crossed. "Okay, spill. You disappeared f

, "I... I think I just agre

aw droppe

lain, a sharp knoc

fr

ht. No one knocked o

eephole. "Um... Zo ?" she whispered.

ran down

it?" I w

commanding voice on the other side

"Mr. Blackwood sent me. Yo

-

realized... whatever world I'd just s