Giving him a jerky nod, she walked away. Her relief at leaving was so palpable his expression turned wry. Most women didn’t try so hard to get away from him. In fact, most women looked for ways to get closer. Talking to Molly had been a reality check for his ego.

His phone buzzed. Pulling it out of his pocket, he checked the screen. There was a text from Anson. Did you get a chance to talk to the Sullivan woman yet?

Fingers moving rapidly, he replied, Yes.

How’d it go?

Pursing his lips, he considered how to answer, and his mood turned grim. We might be facing trouble before we had expected. You’d better warn the others.

And they weren’t ready for trouble if it decided to show up soon.

Lost in thought, he drove to his apartment in the city. The DA needed to spend some time in his fashionable apartment before anyone noticed his absence and began to ask questions he didn’t want to answer.

*     *     *

Back in her hotel room, Molly threw the card on the table and spent the rest of the evening taking tags off her new purchases and putting them away.

Josiah claimed to have removed the spell on the card, and she couldn’t sense anything, but it gleamed against the dark wood as if enticing her to pick it up again.

She had felt overwhelmed before and talking to him was the equivalent of having another tidal wave wash over her head, only this one was bigger than the first. Now she felt so far underwater she had no idea how to swim to the surface.

As he had painted the picture of a possible future in his compelling, rich voice, she could see everything play out like a movie.

A life with no limits. Hadn’t part of her always yearned for that? She had made her choices and she had tried to stick to them. God, she had tried.

Austin had been her career. She had done everything from picking up dry cleaning to helping him make and foster the right connections. She had poured everything into his law practice, into building their life together.

In an age filled with takeout and professional catering, people had relished her sophisticated, home-cooked cuisine. She knew how to talk to legal professionals, and she had prided herself on being warm and welcoming to everyone.

But she hadn’t been loved or valued. She had been someone to get under control. With a fierceness that made her shake, she wanted to hurt Austin the way he had hurt her over the years. She wanted to make him cry like a baby. And wouldn’t it serve him right to see her thrive while he suffered?