ien'

ry smelled of leat

gainst the glass like the knives my grandmother curr

each syllable precise as a dagger. "You let that little

ique clock ticked

at saw every weakness. "Elena Davids found a loopho

uvered by some ambulance-chasing lawyer." Her cane tapped agai

nther she'd had stuffed over the fireplace. "Especially

the mantel, his oil-painted eyes forever frozen mid-

ckles. "Serena's compan

was drier than the martini in he

ds tore out of me befo

n the room droppe

t the patents. Not the shares. Not even the air in her lungs after what she

burst open before

ablet screen glowing with

TIONS SECURES

NAMED TECH'S

cracked. "She just poached

chard!" She bellowed, dis

fully useless, looked up

" Eleanor said pleasantly. "Do t

looking helpless.

ledger." Ele

ll. Even the rain

true, it contained every Blackwood sin for three generations.

sharply. "You can

sbands and a son who underestimated what I could do." She t

s turne

beside men who should've been mine. Investors, innov

sketching circuit diagrams on my chest. "Someday," she'd

thinking it co

u

e decanter. "Giv

her whisper like a noose tightening. "Or I'll remind New

ng yielded two things, one was a photo of Serena on our wedding day, back

th like they m

oday. I declined it, pulling up Serena's contac

ucci dress probably costing more than an average man's ann

ok up. "I'm in the mo

on the coffee tabl

leaving her office. Serena at some u

an C

er who'd refused Blackwood's offer

Grandmother was right. That bitch

ar you call her grandmother. She told

who wants to remain young. I have a f

-laughter, her eyes bright, and alive in ways I hadn't

I ordered

ed. "You're no

tered against the wall behind her

my sister

ouse, the one I owned, but which Serena had tak

ept

et door stood ajar. Inside, s

sa

he s

e she'd hidden the proof