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PROLOGUE

AS THE GLASS ELEVATOR CARRIED US UP, Boston spread out beforemess The city hadn’t been planned, and the narrow roads were laid atop horse trails fro lines of concrete edged between skyscrapers Traffic was a nightmare

I felt a siaze focused on him

He wore a black suit and a black tie dotted with silver specks To everyone else, he’d look powerful and confident, but I saw through it, down to the uncertainty that lingered behind his blue eyes It was unnerving to see him like this I’d known him my whole life and only witnessed it a few times

Breath seized in ers together We were alone in the executive elevator, but the glass walls leftexposed Like anyone could see us I wasn’t supposed to be here

The pad of his thus onout like I’d discovered a great secret “You’re nervous”

He delivered a cool, irritated look “Of course not Why would you say that?”

I glanced down at our joined hands and back to hi his behavior as evidence Currently, I didn’t work at Hale Banking and Holding, and even if I did, displays of affection had no place here at the office, out where anyone could see

He raised an eyebrow “I wanted an excuse to touch you before the ”

It was a lie, but I didn’t call hiood reason to be nervous He was about to walk into theof his life A decision had to be made, and it would settle once and for all what had been in the works for years

I didn’t knohich Hale was going to come out on top

He didn’t either, judging by his unsteady tone “He doesn’t have the votes”

There was too much anxiety in lass and the shards jangled together inhad led up to this s were going to get much harder

My gaze flicked to the panel of buttons, and er itch to reach out and press one—any floor below the one that was already illuminated

He htened If he’d her with each floor we passed, and round to a halt the same moment the elevator did He droppeda professional amount of distance between us

“Thank you for co with me,” he said in the quiet before the doors peeled back with a mechanical whine