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It was the expression on his face The exasperation The finality Her heart started thudding Last time she’d felt like this hen so board as a kid She couldn’t really swim and the chlorine-soaked water closed over her head in a matter of seconds She’d drifted to the botto to work in unison Her lungs burned

And that’s the way she felt now

As if she desperately needed to suck in a breath

This wasn’t just a show He wasn’t just having a tantrum

He was serious He was throwing her out

Deep down, she couldn’t blame Mark for his reaction

The truth was, she was at the end of her tether with herself

She’d wiped out her savings in her firsta more suitable job…

She’d meant to She really had She’d sent out her CV numerous times But every coffee shop was filled with baristas with MBAs She’d started to stress

“Tell me, who do you expect to pay for all this?” He bent down and picked up her Prada handbag, extracted his key for the apartment, and strode toward the entrance

She sed She desperately needed a drink Right now she would even drink one of those hideously trendy sea-grass things But she couldn’t worry about that right now She had more to care about, like…where would she stay?

Desperation flooded through her “Wait,” she shouted at his retreating sweat-drenched back “It can’t be that bad I’m sure I can pay you back—”

He sla her out of their apart

No His apart

He turned to face her through the glass “Oh, I’etting in touch with my attorney”

And with that, he turned andon the sidewalk

There was a snigger behind her as a guy pulled his open-top convertible back into the traffic He must have pulled over to see what the drama was LA It was always about the drama

To add insult to injury, he waved at her with one of her hot-pink thongs as he skidded away Disgusting creep

One of her neighbors ca cold into her hand A wolanced at in the elevator—too busy with shopping bags to notice

“Ice For your forehead They can’t stitch it when it’s swollen And don’t go to the local ER You’ll get a junior doctor who’s never stitched before and you’ll end up scarred for life Go to a plastic-surgery clinic” She gestured toward the freeway “There are soed and walked away

Stitches She was going to need stitches?

The bag of ice was gingerly placed on her forehead, causing her to wince Ouch There was no way anyone could stitch the egg currently breeding there

She looked around at her scattered clothing Darn it If only she’d ed to intercept the Visa bill If only she could have hidden it for a few days…

And then what?

The truth was he would have found out anyway Maybe sooner was better than later Too bad it didn’t feel that way

She’d never behaved like this before It didn’t make sense—even to her

If her worldly goods hadn’t been lying all around her, she y But right now her survival instincts were starting to kick in

A drip from the icepack on her forehead landed on the sleeve of her satin blouse That would stain

Her gaze fell on so flat, black, and credit-card-sized Her heart gave an excited leap, and her gaze darted back to the apartment

The car key In his haste to reclaiotten about his brother’s car Selena had been driving it around LA for the last feeeks after Mark’s brother had gone to work in Dubai

It wasn’t anything special Just a year-old white Toyota with low e Not exactly the most stylish car in LA But it was still a car

She dropped to her knees, stuffing as much as she could into the suitcase, and sat on top of it to pull the zipper around

She grabbed the handle and ran along the path But instead of gliding s before co her forward on to the grass She watched as one lone wheel rolled off into the path of the ongoing traffic

Damn!

She bent down and picked up the suitcase, running as fast as she could in her stiletto heels to the parking lot behind the apart with the strain

The car autooodness for y She hefted the case onto her hip and popped the trunk, scraping the surrounding paintwork around the trunk as she pushed the luggage inside

She snuck over and flattened herself against the wall of the apart and stuck her head around the corner The coast was still clear There was no sign of Mark He was probably on the phone to his attorney co about her

Any second he’d realize that she had the car She had to make this fast

Right now she needed transportation She could phone him in a day or so and tell him where to pick up the car He’d be okay with that

She ran—as best she could—back along the path grabbing one of the garbage bags It went against all her principles, but she didn’t have time to be precious

She started picking things off the grass Another red-and-pink Herner shoes, fitted trousers,heavy, too heavy in fact Any ht split

Cars were still hooting on the way past One slowed down, an ar a ss fro hits on YouTube of “woman thrown out of her apartment” She scowled at the car driver “Get lost,” she hissed

The garbage bag was teetering in her aret it back to the car

“Selena!”

She froze, as theof the apartain

“Give me the car key” As soon as he said the words, he disappeared Her heart pounded It would only take hiet down the stairs

Would he

try and take the key fro to wait around to find out

She still had lots of iterass, her araze darted between the twoitems

The Ralph Lauren coat and her fully stocked vanity case

Her stolass door already There was no time to think She ers and grabbed it on the way past, running back toward the car

She stuhs were burning Running in stilettos wasn’t for amateurs

Skidding to a halt next to the car she yanked the door open, tossing the bag and vanity case onto the passenger seat and hitting the auto-lock button as she landed inside

Sas running down her back and between her breasts The blouse was ruined now There was no hope for it A tear slid down her cheek First the Louboutins, now the Yves Saint Laurent silk blouse Her wardrobe was being ravaged as a result of a few measly over-the-top purchases

She slid the card into the ignition and the car started auto to pursue her?

Selena had no intention of waiting around to find out She was running on pure adrenaline

Hesitation was for fools She switched gears, pulled her car out the lot into the adjoining street, and floored it

Her last view in her rearview round as she sped past and settling back down in a cloud of dust

…

“Can you get the phone, please?”

The ringing drove Colt insane He was trying to hold a consultation with a new potential client and the incessant noise ruined his concentration

The nurse scowled at hiet the phone You fired the receptionist”

He sighed and plastered his trade over the last details of the operation with the patient and getting her to sign her consent form

“I’m sure you’ll be very comfortable in our suite downstairs Our nurse, Linda, will take you down and show you around” He waited until the patient had turned away and then sighed heavily He watched while she escorted the patient over to the elevators, and then he strode across the reception area to answer the phone