PROLOGUE
New York City
August
Cara Bloom would have given just about anything to avoid this argument with Declan. She tore her eyes from the East River glittering forty floors below her half-brother’s office, and brought them back to his face.
“I’m notruiningmy life. I’m starting a new one.”
Cara jumped as Declan surged to his feet and stalked to the small bar against the wall. The knot in her stomach drew sickeningly tight.
She wished she could tell him why she was so desperate to relocate, but it would only make everything worse.
“A little early for a drink don’t you think?” she joked warily, watching him splash a liberal amount of amber liquid into his glass.
The veins in Declan’s neck bulged, and his nostrils flared. He tipped the glass up, draining it in one swallow. After a dramatic exhale, he turned his head and pinned her with another of his enigmatic stares.
Cara struggled to hold onto her temper. She adored her half-brothers, all three of them, but they could be obnoxiously overprotective. She might be their baby sister, but she wasn’t a child anymore—despite the words Declan had flung at her moments ago!
He means well,she reminded herself… but still!
Declan paced the length of his large office and then back again. Finally, he came to a stop, and swiveled to face her.
“Let me see if I understand what you are saying.” His violet eyes, so like her own, were clouded with frustration. “You’ve suddenly decided that your life’s ambition is to be a makeup artist, and you’re moving to Atlanta to go to beauty school? Is that correct?”
“It’s a cosmetology school. And it’s notmy life’s ambition.” She mimicked his sarcastic tone. “You know I want—"
“So, you’re not going to finish your degree? You’re just going to quit?” he interrupted. “You only have one more year! Once you have your MBA, I can set you up here at Bloom Capital with a real job.”
“You aren’t listening! I don’t want to work for your company.” She threw her hands in the air. “Let’s be honest! I didn’t even earn the undergraduate degree I got! The university only gave it to me so Dad wouldn’t pull back all the funds he’d promised. Iwantto go to cosmetology school.”
Cosmetology school was the first step in her grand plan to build something for herself—away from her family’s famous last name and everything that went with it.
But her plan for the future wasn’t the only reason she was leaving. If she shared withanyof her brothers why she was suddenly desperate to start a new life almost a thousand miles away, or why she planned on using her mother’s last name instead of Bloom— they’d definitely try to force some sort of security detail on her!
She had to hide the truth about why she was desperate to escape from her life. To start over. Someplace where whoever was sending the increasingly frightening messages couldn’t find her.
Even after she changed her phone number and email address, the unnerving notes still found her. Cara rarely left Declan’s house in Connecticut anymore, and she was tired of feeling trapped. The stalker’s last note proved, that even with all the precautions she’d taken, he was still watching her.
Her brothers falsely believed that her self-imposed isolation was because she was still dealing with their father’s death and herverypublic scandal. It had been a terrible year forallof the Bloom siblings, and she didn’t want to be the one to make it worse… again.
“Atlanta?But not with Luke? How are you going to pay for that?” Declan challenged.
“I’m not asking you to pay for it, if that’s what you mean. I only want you to promise that you won’t try to keep me from accessing what’s left in my trust account.”
Declan’s lips parted slightly, and his eyes flickered with what looked suspiciously like hurt. “I would never do that.”
She shouldn’t have said that. Her brother was insanely generous with his siblings. In the aftermath of her father’s death and the shocking discovery that Cara and her brothers had been practically disinherited—in favor of their father’s new wife, Courtney—her brothers made sure she was shielded from most of the ugly fallout.
In the chaos that followed, each of her brothers thought they had the single right answer for what Cara should do next. Declan wanted Cara to finish her graduate degree so she could get a corporate job. Luke offered her a place to live, with him in Atlanta. His twin brother, James, suggested she spend some time with friends—regroup and plan for the future.
James’s option sounded like the most fun. So, after a quick text, Cara’s best friend, Amara sent her a plane ticket to join a group of their friends in Ibiza, including Cara’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, Erik.
And then her scandal—ortheincidentas her brothers referred to it—erupted across the tabloids.
“I’m sorry, Declan. That was mean. I’m not planning on using it. Well, not a lot anyway. I may need some for deposits and stuff, but everything else will be paid for by however much I make. I’ll get a job.”
“However much you make?”Declan repeated her words softly. “And how much do you think that will be?”
