A SEARCH FOR THE BOSSThe drive back to the estate was a blur of neon lights and hollow silence. Linda felt as though the very air in the car had become thin, making every breath a laboured effort. When she finally pulled into the driveway, the grand decor of her home...the stone statues, the manicured hedges, the sprawling limestone facade...no longer felt like a fortress. It felt like a stage set that was being dismantled while she was still standing on it.She walked into the house, her movements stiff and robotic. She didn't turn on the lights in the foyer, preferring the oppressive shadows of the hallway. She retreated to the small morning room, a place usually reserved for light tea and social planning, and sat in an armchair that felt far too large for her suddenly diminished frame. She sat in total silence, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes fixed on a point on the far wall. She was mentally retracing every step of her life with Arthur, every dinner party, every late-

PLAN TO STAY ALIVE She thought of the "Big People" she had bragged about being at the gala. She thought of the way she had looked down on Jack for four years, mocking his grease-stained hands and his lack of "vision". She realised now that they had been living in a house of cards, and the man who owned the deck had just decided to stop playing."We are going to be penniless," Linda whispered. "In seventy-two hours, the Rothwell will come after us, and now we do not even have the support we had to stay afloat. Two troubles on our necks, we will have nothing but the clothes on our backs and a mountain of debt that will haunt us for the rest of our lives. Robert is lo

IS JACK, ROTHWELL? "We are being evicted. Our accounts are frozen! The meetings Robert got us into were traps he was too stupid to see. He is of no use to me, Leslie. And if you have even a shred of the Smith blood in you, you will realise he is of no use to you either. You will not call him. You will not explain a single thing. You will let him wait for a call that is never coming. If I find out you have tipped him off, if I find out you have tried to smuggle him into our fallback plan, I will leave you behind too. Do you understand me?" Linda threatened herLeslie stared at her mother, seeing a stranger in the familiar silk robes. The woman who had taught her how to dress, how to smile, and how to marry for power

THE MAN WATCHING DOWN THE CITY She realised then that her mother’s plan...the suburban apartment, the hidden life, the slow climb from the basement...was a slow death. It was a life of looking over their shoulders, of being "nobodies" in a city that only respected "somebodies".And then, a thought occurred to her. It was a thought so wild, so desperate, that it made her breath hitch in her chest.She thought of the one person who had been the "nobody" in their house for four years. The man who had taken their insults, who had fixed their cars, who had cooked their meals, and who had never once raised his voice in anger. She thought of Jack.If the investors were pulling out because of the divorce... if the "Legacy Alliance" was tied to his presence... then Jack was the key.