Chapter 14

Garrison POV

The Bellevue skyline burned beyond the penthouse windows, thousands of lights scattered across the darkness beneath me.

I hadn't turned on a single lamp.

The only light in the room came from the city and the small brass fixture above the dining table, illuminating a stack of paper thick enough to resemble a legal deposition.

Across the title page were four words. The Woman Who Walked Away. Kelsey Vance.

I had read the first hundred pages standing up.

By page two hundred, I had taken off my jacket. By page three hundred, my tie was lying somewhere on the floor and a glass of whiskey sat untouched beside my elbow.

Now it was nearly two in the morning. I was still reading.

The media division had obtained the manuscript through the proper rights channels after I instructed them to evaluate Kelsey's work for adaptation. I had told myself that was all this was: research. If Sterling Tech was going to expa