ログイン“ETHAN!”My scream tore through the street, loud enough to make three security guards turn their heads and one unfortunate woman drop her coffee.Unfortunately, the man with the gun wasn't drinking coffee.He was aiming at my husband.My estranged husband.My infuriating, controlling, emotionally constipated billionaire husband, whom I had left less than a day ago because he had decided that keeping me married to him was a perfectly reasonable thing to do without asking for my opinion.And now somebody was about to shoot him.Honestly, the universe needed to develop a personality beyond petty.“GUN!” I screamed. “ETHAN, BEHIND YOU!”Ethan moved.I had seen that man do many things in the time I'd known him. I had watched him dismantle arguments without raising his voice, destroy a business deal with three sentences, and make grown executives look like schoolchildren who'd been caught cheating on an examination. I had watched him fight masked men with a silver pen and somehow make it lo
I was halfway through convincing myself that I could survive the rest of my life without Ethan Bramhall when the television announced that somebody had attacked my husband.Apparently, the universe had decided my emotional suffering wasn't entertaining enough without adding potential widowhood.I sat upright on the sofa.The news anchor appeared on the screen, wearing the grave expression of a woman who knew she was about to ruin somebody's afternoon."...developing reports from Midtown Manhattan, where an incident involving billionaire businessman Ethan Bramhall occurred outside Bramhall Holdings headquarters approximately twenty minutes ago. Witnesses report a confrontation near the building's main entrance. Bramhall's security team responded immediately, and the situation remains under investigation."I stopped breathing.Not metaphorically. My lungs actually appeared to have resigned from their positions without giving notice.The screen showed the familiar glass tower, the Bramha
Freedom smelled like dust, stale coffee, and the unfortunate remains of a sandwich I'd forgotten in my refrigerator before accidentally marrying a billionaire.I stood in the middle of my old apartment, staring at the place I had spent months trying to keep together with cheap cleaning products, questionable financial decisions, and the stubborn belief that one day my life would finally stop behaving like a badly written comedy.Nothing had changed.The faded curtains were still hanging crookedly. The sofa still had a suspicious stain I had never managed to identify. The kitchen counter still carried a collection of bills I had promised myself I'd organize before the end of the month, which had apparently been a promise I made to entertain myself.My apartment was exactly as I'd left it.So why did it feel like I had walked into somebody else's home?I dropped my bag beside the sofa and looked around."Well," I announced to the empty room, "I'm back."The refrigerator hummed.A pipe k
I didn't sleep that night.Not because I was afraid of the people hunting me, although that would have been a perfectly reasonable explanation. Someone had broken into a supposedly secure safe house, manipulated security footage, and demonstrated an intimate knowledge of our movements. There were men out there who wanted to destroy Ethan's company, and at least one of them seemed perfectly comfortable using me as a convenient target.Under ordinary circumstances, I would have considered all of that sufficient reason to stay awake.Unfortunately, my husband had managed to give me a much more personal reason to lose sleep.He wanted me.He had wanted me before the wedding, wanted me when he decided to keep the marriage, and wanted me now.And he had decided that I would remain his wife without giving me the opportunity to say whether I wanted to be one.I lay on the unfamiliar bed in the safe house, staring at the ceiling while my thoughts ran in circles. Every time I thought I had reac
The wedding had been an accident.The marriage had been an accident.But me becoming important to him?That hadn't been accidental at all.I stared at Ethan, trying to reconcile the man standing in front of me with the man who had just confessed to keeping a file on my life before I even knew he existed. The same man who had watched me stumble into his world, made decisions about my safety, and apparently decided that my place in his life was something he could determine without consulting the person whose life he was rearranging.It was an impressive talent, really. Most people needed a committee meeting to make a decision that affected another person. Ethan Bramhall could apparently alter the course of my entire existence before breakfast and still look like he was waiting for his coffee.I wanted to throw something at him.Preferably something expensive enough to hurt his feelings if it broke."Say something," he said.I laughed once.It wasn't a happy laugh. It was the kind of lau
The promise sat between us for less than five minutes before I realized there was another question I couldn't ignore.Maybe that was the problem with Ethan.Every answer opened another door.And behind every door was another secret.I was still holding his hand when I looked at him."There's something else."His eyes shifted toward me."What?""The first time we met."His expression changed.Barely.But I saw it.That tiny pause.That hesitation.The kind that told me I had just stepped on something buried."You investigated me."It wasn't a question.Ethan went still.Ruelle looked from me to him.Laura suddenly became very interested in the road ahead.Ethan slowly released my hand.I felt the loss immediately."Grace...""No."I shook my head."You already told me you investigated me.""I did.""In your office.""Yes.""You said it was because of the situation.""Partly."I stared at him."Partly?"He didn't answer.My stomach tightened."What does that mean?"He looked out the win







