ALEXI was sitting on the leather sofa in the Pas Pour Toi Club, a place that belonged to my friend Daniel Wilden. A year ago, he had opened this spot out of boredom, giving it the most arrogant name possible—Not For You. He wanted to make the club a private haven for his friends to talk and drink. Well, it didn't work. The place was currently one of the hottest spots in New York City. Fortunately, Daniel created a VVIP room, to which only five people had access. I was one of them.I drew a deep breath as I stared at the amber liquid in my glass. The pumping bass slightly slipped through the walls and door, but that was the only thing that indicated that we were in the middle of a crowded nightclub. I had always hated club noises, but not tonight. Tonight, it was the silence that I could not bear…Thoughts swirling inside my head matched the insane speed of the blood running in my veins. It took me more than five minutes before I put them in some kind of order and willed myself to lif
SARAH"Aunty Joy!" Liam darted past me and threw his little arms up, wrapping them around Joy's waist."My favorite kid in the whole world has grown a few inches, I see." Smiling in Joy's way, she leaned over him and ruffled his hair."I'm a big boy now," he stated, causing me to snort.I stepped toward them and pulled Liam away, freeing Joy from his tight hug. "All right, big boy. It's time for you to go to sleep.""But I'm not tired"—he yawned—"Mommy. I can stay"—he yawned again—"a little longer."I crouched in front of him and smiled. "Your sleepy eyes prove something different."He pouted and lowered his gaze. "But Aunt Joy is here…""Yes, and I will stay here for a while so you can see me in the morning," she assured, giving him a little wink.His eyes widened and all but sparkled. "You will live with us here?"I chuckled. "Yes, your favorite Aunty decided to stay with us for a while."Liam sighed and nodded. "All right. If Aunty Joy is staying, then I think I can go to sleep now
ALEXSarah Hill… Fate must have had the weirdest sense of humor. Of course, the odds that the designer Sarah was actually MY Sarah—and the fact that I called her mine meant that there was definitely something wrong with me—were smaller than winning the national lottery twice in a row.Dragging my fingers through my hair, I let out a slow exhale. I needed to get my head in the game. I needed to stop chasing ghosts from my past. She should have forever remained nothing but a one-night stand without any significant meaning, but that was far from the position she actually held in my mind…I dreamed about her last night. Jeanette spent the night in my penthouse. I fell asleep, and I dreamed about screwing another woman. Could anything be more fucked up than this? I wish I could say that my vivid-as-hell dream was made of my memories, but it wasn't. My brain convinced me to believe that the woman I had seen at the airport was the Sarah from Nassau. Then it captured every detail of her body
SARAH I balanced on the chair placed on top of the table while painting a sunflower right below the ceiling of the orphanage's common room. I was in that freaking room alone because… well, the kids from art school decided not to show up. Since Sister Rita had already bought paints and brushes, and I didn't want the kids to be disappointed, I was currently playing Van Gough, minus all the craziness and cutting the ear. Dressed in sneakers, jeans shorts, a sweatshirt, a baseball cup on my head, and with no makeup on, I had already been mistaken for a high schooler three times, and the party for the donors was only just beginning. Of course, the real awkwardness began when Liam appeared and called me Mommy in front of confused guests… This was going to be a long day. I had finished painting the yellow and orange petals and needed to rearrange my fragile construction. I jumped down and slowly pushed the table with the chair, careful not to spill the paint standing on it all over the flo
ALEX I wasn't planning to go to Pas Pour Toi on Saturday evening, but somehow I ended up sitting in the VVIP room with Grayson and Daniel and drinking whiskey. I was too agitated to go home. With everything going on inside my head, I felt like I could explode at any second. Talking about what had happened at the orphanage wasn't something I intended to do when I went to the club. Perhaps it was that third glass of whiskey that finally made me spill it out. "So… let me get this straight." Grayson twisted in his seat to face me. "You sort of met the woman who is going to design your office. Her name is Sarah Hill, and she has a five-year-old son." His brows rose as he waited for my confirmation. I nodded, and he continued. "Her face was covered with paint, but you think that it was the same woman you saw at the airport?" I drew a deep breath and nodded again. "I'm almost positive that's her." A smirk curved my lips as I took a drink from my glass. "I fucking cannot wait until Monday.
SARAH"He knows!" I leaped to my feet, tossing the phone on my desk. I threw my trembling hands forward as I rushed to the sofa where Joy was sitting, drinking coffee. "I don't know how, but Alex knows!" The pitch of my voice went up and died on the last note with a strangled wheeze.Joy's eyes rose from the coffee cup and she studied me for a moment. "Do you need to hyperventilate?"I slumped down beside her and shook my head. "I don't know how he found out, but he knows that it's me!" I pointed at myself as if there was some other "me" in the room. "He knows that Sarah Hill—that I am the one whom he spent the night with! God!" I clamped my hand over my mouth, my eyes widening."What?" Joy raised her brows."Liam… H-he knows about Liam. That is why he wants to meet with me…" The panic mode activated and started to fill every inch of me. Blood rushed through my veins at double speed. Shivers ran down my spine, wave after wave, while my stomach churned. "He will try to take my son away
ALEXI had my favorite black suit and gray shirt on, all ready to meet with Sarah. I spent the last two nights anticipating this moment. I left my office and was driving not far from Park Avenue, but instead of heading to Sarah's apartment, I was on my way to the construction site in Brooklyn Heights.I was seriously pissed. This was supposed to be my night off. I wanted to turn off my laptop and stop thinking about work for several hours. Unfortunately, some fucking dickheads decided to plan the night for me differently.Grayson called me just when I was about to leave the office and shared the news, which initially sounded like a way-out-of-line grim joke. He told me that someone had sneaked into the construction site and shot one of the guards. That's all I knew as I headed there. Grayson was already on the spot, talking to the police and making sure no news got to the press. I trusted him and knew that he could take care of everything until I got there. Unfortunately, he was the o
I hadn't slept that night. I couldn't even think about sleeping. At ten in the morning, I stepped in front of the Ravenford Corporation Building and made an official announcement to the press. The announcement focused on the death of Robin McKinney, the security guard who worked for our company. I spoke of a vicious attack at the future workplace of hundreds of people. I told them about the grief and the support we, as the company, had promised Mr. McKinney's family. And then I lied… I told everyone that we had yet to learn who might have done it.The detectives suspected that Bram Hill might have been hiding somewhere in New York City and they didn't want him to know that he had been identified as a murderer. The last thing the police wanted was to make him flee to another state like they assumed he did five years ago. Certainly, the detectives checked on all those who had known him before, asking if anyone had seen him recently. No one said anything. Then it was time to question his