Chapter 13 Fractures Of Trust

• The city stretched out beneath Antoine’s penthouse windows, glittering like it had been forged from steel and fire. Yet none of it steadied him. Not the familiar view. Not the wealth he had built with precise, ruthless control.
• Because somewhere behind him, Élise was moving through his space as if she belonged there. And worse still, her brother’s voice—Lucien’s—echoed in his memory, every syllable dripping with protective warning.
• Antoine’s jaw clenched. He had tolerated the man’s presence only because he was blood to Élise. But even now, even after Lucien had left, the distrust he had poured into Antoine’s veins lingered like poison.