a point

ted

verything

s something fragile and expensive-something he'd locked away in glass just so no one else could t

ton had destr

pretend. To play happy fiancée whi

n't s

ook at him if I

d it moo

ed it

me at dinner, I m

ak to me in the hall

ded anything, I said,

till stuck in his world-his mansion, his rules, his twisted version of

him more eac

e his voice. D

ade it

st on his skin. It was inside him, carved into the way he looked at me, the way

ce made him promi

that orphanage fire, as

e wasn't m

ft to protect. No bel

tred-and a growing de

up on a rai

est. "A visitor is here to see you," she said, ey

I don't have

cia said. "She's wa

d've been

Angry. Running on

when I

urls fell over her shoulders like a shampoo commercial, and her lipstick was a perfe

g forward with a smile like honey. "W

arms. "Do

aid. "But I

ave been my s

her sit do

She talked,

igh school-before he became the stone-hearted billionaire the world knew today. She

Isolated.

"I know what it's like to be forced

t my at

me in days, I le

ly and f

the right tone. Said she had friends who could help. Said the

. belie

phone she slipped into my

she whispered. "No strings

the rain run down the glass windows lik

burner phon

he more her words looped in

erve a

she was just another vult

t if sh

d a new

typed.

ds like she's been waiting

reenhouse. Back gate

ng, I had mad

I told the maid I wasn't feeling well. I skipped breakfast. Avoided Vinc

o

ridor near the greenhouse.

ce, and the north side-the one with ivy-choked gat

sweaty. I kept glancing back, half-expecting

e and then I s

between her fingers, sunglasses pushed up on

e said, grinni

ck. "Let's go bef

t thi

ur feet. The wind had picked up. A storm w

kept m

eded

car. Tracy open

he

without

n everythi

e front seat

and certainly

d eyes and a thick scar

me screamed to ge

harply tow

ady pulling

ile wa

one blank-shar

the hell i

dn't a

lled something

yri

d smoothly. "Actuall

my mouth

hand mov

d my neck and eve

before my world colla

e

lor of

he going t