hing had happened. This was his patt

r breakfast, smiling as if he hadn't tri

to an entire luxury wing of a department

want, Aleen.

f excess. I paused for a second too long in front of a d

asping it around my wrist. The diamonds felt like sha

un, to disappear, but I knew what would happen. I remembered t

red in the main plaza of the mall. Flas

I knew, somehow,

the throng of p

ng

aling her bra and underwear. Her face was bruised, h

o stone. He shoved peop

?" he demanded

"It was his wife

it!" another voice chimed in.

an, hiding behind t

lood draining from my face. I hadn't done anything. I was w

' s exposed body. He cradled her in his arms,

ce gentle in a way it never was with me

n... she warned me... I didn't t

ne through the crowd. They were not question

n't need a single fact. In h

ers at his security to disperse the

, in a sea of judging e

eavier than a ball and chain. He hadn't even asked. He ha

ning, it was

p site, every tabloid. "Billionaire's Ji

asn't the

hotos. Intimate photos. Pictures of me in lingerie, pictures of me in bed. Photos Hud

h a Scheming Past: See the Photos Ale

s, manipulative gold-digger. That I had a histo

world tilt