SARAHI was on one of the residence terraces, sitting in a comfortable rattan armchair and drinking coffee. Joy was sitting in front of me, staring at her cup of coffee as if she were hoping it'd turn into a glass of liquor. I was glad that she decided to spend her day off with me. I was beginning to go insane, locked up in the residence, and still constantly getting tired.“So, tell me exactly what happened when that dickhead got fired.” Joy's eyes lightened up with a wicked glow.I snorted and shifted in my seat. “He was sooo pissed, and I enjoyed every second of it.”“I bet you did.” Joy winked at me, causing a grin to spread across my face.“I didn't know what was going on at first. I walked out of my room and saw Alex's father storming through the corridor. It wasn't the first time I saw him enraged, so I shrugged and was about to return to my room, but then I saw Eleonor following him.” I leaned back in my seat and took a sip of coffee. “Since I get more and more bored sitting h

I took a deep breath, hoping that my hands would finally stop shaking. I wasn't sure where all this anxiety was coming from. This was just another gala. I had attended more than a few during the last five years. But this was different. I didn't have enemies or a target on my back then. I wrapped myself with confidence as if it were a warm blanket, but the fears kept crawling underneath my skin.Breathe in. Breathe out. I put on cream pants and a tailored jacket with a belt at the waist. The fabric of the suit was somewhere in between shiny and matte, slightly glowing each time I stood in the light. It was Eleonor's idea. She said that I looked like an angel—a sexy angel at that. I drew another deep breath as I stared at the cleavage, perfectly exposed in my jacket. Yep, that was the whole sexy element, which, according to Eleonor, should compensate for the lack of bare legs in high heels.Breathe in. Breathe out. I slid my feet into Jimmy Choo's pointed-toe flats—the truly comfortable

It was close to midnight. I was sitting in my office again and staring at the half-empty decanter. My stomach was utterly filled with coffee and whiskey and lacked a blend of whatever one might call food. I knew that my system would soon protest against it, but right now I didn't give a shit.It was possible that my father had killed someone. I still tried to figure out whether the news shocked me or not. My father had never been a composed type. He had rather acted than talked, and resorting to violence had been something that occurred often. He had changed, though. It happened shortly after my mother died, even though he married Cassandra, which was supposed to give him happiness, he seemed lost…Surely, I couldn't exactly remember all the details of his behavior. I was a kid then. But what I did remember was him becoming more and more distant. As a teenager and later, I had always thought that this change had a lot to do with Father's grief after my mother died, but what if I was w

I stood in the hall leading to the ballroom in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. It was strange showing up here without Eleonor. What was even stranger was that people who passed me by recognized me. Some stopped to say hello, others asked why Eleonor Ravenford wasn't with me. A lump formed in my throat every time their questions dragged my mind back to her bedroom and the way she looked—pale, weak, perhaps even hurting. I was almost certain she didn't tell me the truth about her condition. She was too determined to send me here and meet people, painting a bright smile in front of others. Perhaps she knew that if she'd told me the truth, no force would have dragged me out of the residence. God, I seriously hoped that my suspicions were wrong…Painting my best smile, I dropped the check from the Ravenford Foundation into the fundraising box and let myself be photographed from every possible angle while doing it. Then I answered the questions from the reporters, explaining that Eleonor Ravenford

SARAHI walked into the ballroom and instantly wished I hadn't, as I stopped a few feet away from Jeanette, surrounded by a small crowd of people congratulating her. Our eyes met for a second, and a smirk grew on her surgically improved lips. The suffocating feeling from when I talked to Alex returned in an instant. Then my guts twisted, and I figured that it would be a good idea to get out of there before I began to throw up.“Get yourself together,” I whispered to myself as I strode out of the ballroom, entering a long corridor. I didn't know where I was or where I was going. I just needed to be away from all those people. I turned around the corner and finally found what I wanted—quiet.I found a corner where I could be alone, at least for a while. I started pacing in circles, covering the small space, and trying to force my hectic mind to become more organized. As soon as I shoved away everything about Jeanette's pregnancy, thoughts about Eleonor surfaced.“I haven't told Alex,” I