Page 86 of Hunting Pretty

I wanted him to see that I wasn’t ashamed or afraid. Even if I was.

I planted my feet, glared right at the camera, and stuck up my middle finger at him.

When I got back to my desk, the banker’s lamp was turned off.

Fuck him. I wasn’t afraid of my past anymore. I’d pour through every single line in my adoption record.

I’d find what he didn’t want me to find.

I switched the lamp back on and reached for my adoption file.

I froze, cursing him under my breath. My file was missing.

Him chasing me, fucking me against the bookshelves was a distraction.

He’d stolen my adoption records.

My lead was gone.

My past had been stolen from me yet again.

And in its place was another fucking Belladonna Lily, its delicate petals mocking me.

I could feel my teeth grinding, my jaw so tight I thought it might crack, and I couldn’t stop the fury from twisting through me.

I snatched up the lily and ripped all its petals off before crushing them under my feet.

He’d stolen my adoption records.

Which meant there was something in those records he didn’t want me to find.

Determination steeled inside me. He thought trying to hinder my investigation would stop me. He thought “punishing” me would deter me.

He was wrong.

It only made me more determined to uncover Liath’s secrets.

Mysecrets.

Regardless of the danger I might be running headfirst into.

AVA

Ebony stood in the doorway to the mansion, the all-white silk pant suit and Ferragamo wraparound coat draped over her shoulders making the sky blue of her eyes stand out even more.

Mr. O’Rourke, along with Angus, with one of her guards, were loading her suitcases into the trunk of her town car for yet another one of her business trips.

Please don’t leave me home alone,I wanted to say to her.But for some reason, my mouth wouldn’t work.

She must have caught the fear radiating on my face because she turned to face me and said, “Darling, are you okay?”

“Grand,” I lied.

I knew I was supposed to trust Ebony like a mother. Didn’t daughters tell their mothers everything? But I just couldn’t force out the words.

How was I supposed to admit I’d been tied up and assaulted in my bed?

That he chased me through the library before fucking me against the shelves?

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