Chapter Seventy Three: Something Is Wrong

The next night, Illyra paused as she got ready for the New Year’s Eve ball. She looked wanly out the tall curved window of their bedroom.

The wintry Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea looked nothing like Hawaii’s warm turquoise waters. It was even worse than Alaska’s frigid sea. Even in the weak, short hours of daylight, the Russian waves were choppy and gray. But the sun had set long ago, and the world was dark. The black, icy water here could suck the life out of you within seconds if you were dumb enough to fall into it.

Kind of like falling in love with a man who would neither love you back nor set you free.

Illyra closed her eyes. Yesterday, the workaholic tyrant had been neither workaholic nor a tyrant, playing hooky from work to entertain her. Letting people keep their jobs in his merger. Tipping that saleswoman at the boutique. Getting rid of the men who’d threatened Illyra and her little sister. And more.

I’ve never forgotten you, Aurora. She would never forget the stark vulne