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wonderful thing that anyone had ever done.

Chapter 17

Giana

Maybe she should have given her something solid.

Something concrete. She gave her honest answer instead. One

of the very few times in her life she could remember letting

someone into her head. The truthful answer usually wasn’t the

right answer. No one really wanted to hear the truth. She’d

never wanted to tell it before. The world got by on half

honesty, half lie.

Maybe if she’d invented something, used one of her many

shields and her quick thinking, she wouldn’t have woken up

alone.

Giana blinked into the early morning dark. It was before six

because her alarm hadn’t gone off. She put out her hand,

stretching it towards where Coralyn had been, but found the

spot cold. The house was so quiet that she knew she was gone.

Had they made it a whole night? When had she left? Giana

had slept so soundly and deeply that she didn’t even know.

She sleepily kept feeling the empty sheets, the cold, crisp

linen. In her daze, she ran her hand over the pillow and

stopped. Paper. Her fingertips hit soft fabric and then crisp

pages. She sat up, reaching for them and gathering them to her.

One flick of the lamp on the nightstand and she knew exactly

what she was holding. Her racing heart told her that she’d

known before the light.

The annulment document and the NDA were both neatly

signed.

She let out a shuddering breath that was half sob. But she

didn’t cry. She’d done enough of that at fourteen to last her a