il

the one thing that could pull me back from the edge of the abyss Hamilton had thrown me into. The psychiatrist had called it

ed gasps. Just as I was about to shake a pill into my pa

Look what we

t, and she kicked the bottle from my hand. It skittered across the polished marble floor, the little white pills scattering like fallen tee

voice dripping with fals

But I choked it down. Dudley. I had to think of Du

loor for any stray pills. I saw one n

ingers could close around it. She held it up between her

glint in her eyes. "You really are cr

mace, and swallowed. "Tastes like chalk. You know, I told Hamilton y

, Brittany," I said, m

? So you can keep pretending to be a functional human being? Don' t

night your father died, Hamilton was with me. He held me all night, telling me how brave I was, how he' d protect me

ts axis. The air was

rst thought was for me. He was worried the news would upset me, that it would trigger my 'delicate condition' .

ly aimed dagger, each on

ger. "Why do you keep clinging to him? He doesn' t want you! Nobody wants you! Your fam

warned, my co

"You' ll hit me? Go on. Do it. Give him another reason to

ng to a conspiratorial whisper that

had to do was cry to Hamilton, show him a few doctored emails and bank statements. I knew he couldn' t resist playin

me in court. Against his own brother-in-law. Against his own wi

it. The f

ecting with her cheek ech

ittany didn't recoil. She didn't even look an

he started

help me! She' s t

ton was there. He rushed past me, his eyes filled with a panic and concern I hadn' t seen directed at me in over a ye

hat did she do to you?" he as

back, my heel catching on the leg of a console table. I went down hard, my arm striking the marble edge. A sharp, sea

to the agony in my chest. He

ngle, devastating thought pierced through the chaos in my mind: he

and. I was his wife. I was the one blee

pt his arm securely around her, his body a protective barr

th you?" he snarled, his v

inted a trembling finger at Brittany. "She... sh

rom my desperate, tear-streaked face t

tainty. "Why would she do that? She sacrificed her reputa

like a curse. My brother. He

oked out. "Hamilton, pleas

xt two words shattered the last

re delu