I’d been doing my damned hardest not to let emotion stifle reason, and to allow this to be exactly what it was: a forbidden affair that would live in the shadows and never see the light of day. I’d never take her out to dinner, hold her hand in public, or put a ring on her finger. I had laid my intentions out, loud and clear, and Halley claimed to be content with the terms. But I knew that even the best-laid plans were often butchered and left splattered across a murder-scene floor.
