Hannah managed a small, tired smile and nodded. Just as she was about to speak, she heard a voice from the hallway.


    "Mr. Rosenberg? What are you doing here? Are you looking for Ms. Temple?"


    "Just passing through," Lionel replied curtly, turning and walking away without another word.


    Hearing his voice, Samuel shot up and ran to the door, just in time to see Lionel''s retreating back.


    "Hannah,” he said, turning back to her with a look of dawning realization. "You knew he was out there, didn''t you? You said all of that on purpose for him to hear."


    Hannah didn''t bother to deny it. She simply nodded.


    "I may have said it for him to hear," she admitted, her gaze dropping, a cold, sharp resentment hardening her features. "But every word of it was true."


    She looked up at Samuel. "Do you think that was wrong of me? That I shouldn''t have done it?"


    Honestly, Hannah wasn''t sure herself why she had done it. After everything that had happened, she knew perfectly well that words were meaningless. That man would never lift a finger to help her.


    "Wrong? Hannah, I think what you did was absolutely right! It was brilliant!" Samuel eximed. "Now your past is out in the open. Everyone knows you were abused, that you suffered so much. Strangers feel sorry for you, they want to see that bastard punished. And what did your husband do? Nothing. Does he even deserve to be called your husband? If I were him, I''d be dying of shame! He''s not worthy of you, Hannah!"


    Samuel knew all about Lionel''s


    formidable reputation-how he had built his empire from the ground without any help from the


    Rosenberg family, a feat that bel not


    stunned the business world. But learning of his cruelty toward Hannah erased all respect, leaving only contempt and disgust.


    "It doesn''t matter anymore," Hannah said, seeing the righteous anger on Samuel''s face. A warmth spread through her chest. "He won''t help me, but the Temple family will. I don''t need to rely on an outsider anymore."


    "Exactly! And you know how protective Grandpa and Grandma are, especially since you''re Aunt Cheryl''s daughter," Samuel said, his excitement growing. "That orphanage director... he''s a dead man walking."


    Heunched into stories of his grandparents'' legendary exploits, and as Hannah listened, a sense of anticipation began to build within her.


    Lionel left the Temple estate and sat alone in his car, staring nkly into the darkness.


    The images from the screen yed on a loop in his mind. The sharp crack of the cane echoed in his ears as if it were happening right beside him. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Hannah''s small, thin body curled into a ball, trembling and pleading for mercy. Her heartbreaking sobs ripped through him, each breath a fresh stab of pain


    that made his temples throb and his nose burn.


    When Hannah had first told him, he had been able to picture it, but for some reason, he had done... nothing.


    Lionel mmed his fists against the steering wheel, the veins on the back of his hands bulging. After a long moment, he started the car and floored the


    elerator, heading straight for the Woods family home.


    The men who had yed the video had been taken away by Temple security. He wasn''t sure if Hannah had told them he was her husband and didn''t want to risk revealing the truth himself, which would only make her angrier. From the indifferent way the Temple staff had greeted him earlier, he guessed she had kept quiet.