Chapter 2

By the end of the drive I could have recited the plainclothes officers' badge numbers, that was how long they'd trailed our motorcade.

But the Taylor cars rolled straight through the gates of the old estate without a care.

After a release from prison, coming to the old estate to burn incense and thank the ancestors for their protection was tradition here.

I offered the incense properly.

Three bows, three prostrations.

A whole wall of Taylor ancestral tablets looked down on me from above.

Fabian said the first thing he'd said to me since we'd met.

"I thought you did it, back then, for me."

The bodyguards knew better than to linger, and withdrew.

The moment we reached the old estate they'd made me change into the traditional Taylor dress.

Such garbage rules.

Every Taylor woman who came before the family hall had to wear one.

And of course the one Fabian had picked for me was slit halfway up the thigh.

The instant I knelt, most of my leg was bared.

I went to free a hand to hold the hem down, then remembered I was still holding the incense.

My hand jerked, and the ash burned me.

It stung.

Fabian's eyes flicked over me.

He took the incense from my hand and set it in the burner for me.

Then, in the next breath, he swept a whole row of the ancestral tablets in front of us aside.

The tablets clattered down across the floor.

Some of them cracked clean in two the instant they hit.

He turned back, his eyes fixed on me, and pressed me down onto the prayer cushion.

A lunatic, plain and simple.

Half an hour later, Fabian carried me out of the old estate.

I'd been worn out until I had nothing left, and could only lean into him.

I really did need to start working out.

Three years locked up in there, and my body was nothing like it used to be.

Seeing me rarely so docile, Fabian bit my lip with a particular satisfaction.

Then tossed me into the car.

Another time.

It was near dusk before we got back to Fabian's villa in South Garden.

He pressed his mouth to my ear and asked,

"Do you hate me? For sending you in?"

I nodded, perfectly honest.

"All that talk with that Wayne person, whatever his name is. What are you playing at?"

"Nothing."

I pushed Fabian off.

I smoothed back the hair at my temples, long since damp with sweat.

"There's no need for the two of us to keep pretending to be decent people."

"What you promised me, give it to me soon, or I can't promise I won't say something I shouldn't."

Fabian gripped my chin.

I wasn't afraid.

I tilted my face up and let him see it clearly.

"Tomorrow."

"Fine."

4

Fabian still didn't quite trust me, in the end.

When I came out after my shower, changed into a nightgown,

he was leaning against the sofa, studying me.

He told me to rest well, then turned to leave.

As he went, I baited him on purpose.

"You're not afraid of me, are you?"

"Afraid I'll kill you while you sleep."

Fabian didn't answer me.

He pulled me half against him by the waist and undid the silk tie at the front.

The already loose nightgown fell open like a folding fan.

His fingers slid down over the fabric, barely there.

The slick drag of it made me shiver despite myself.

"Yes. I'm afraid of you."

"Afraid the famous top of her class from Ashford, Attorney Gladys Harding, will report me."

Top of her class.

Attorney Gladys Harding.

It felt like something from another life.

After savoring the moment my face went cold, the look of me forcing down my anger, Fabian let me go.

Hands raised over his head.

Playing at surrender, he backed out through the bedroom door.

That smirk on his face really did cut into me.

It hurt more than seeing Wayne's chief-attorney credentials had, back when I was still inside.