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Chapter One

Abby

I wouldn’t even need a sledgehaht now—I could do it with o full-out Office Space on the black box blaring the rhythmic, shrill buzz on the other side of my bedroom

After pullingblond hair out of my face and then stumble across the room to silence the alarm I pause in front of the dark wood dresser the clock sits on, gathering myself I’m still so tired

It’s like thisinfour or five hours of sleep isn’t enough Butas that groggy, achy feeling is there, I know I’ve slept enough to htmares Or even dreams For nearly three years, they’ve been one and the same, anyway—unbearable

I make a quick trip to the bathroom and then head to the kitchen, where a full pot of coffee is waiting for me Coffee pot timers—best invention ever

Every day at 3:52 aet just enough caffeine to o to the walk-in closet in s, a t-shirt, socks and y down to the opulent,to whichever door

Monday through Friday, it’s Chase Saturdays, it’s Larry And Sundays, it’s Diana The faces h the open door and get into a waiting SUV at 4:06 am

“Morning, Ms Daniels,” my driver says

“Good , Ben How are you?”

“Can’t complain, ma’am”

Even in Manhattan, traffic is light at this hour, and he pulls the SUV out into the driving lane with no wait Just like every day This is our usual conversation, and I know it’s over now, so I takeand open my email

Unless there’s so eht But with ti

I forward a few to my assistant, respond to a couple and save the rest for later, so Clusterfuck” I hired an experienced project owith the three stores we’re building in that n spec issues That’s why I’ain today Stephen is a very capable project er, but I like to have a hand in every aspect of my company That’s how I’ve built Cypress Lane into one of the s businesses in the industry in less than three years