Part 1 By the time the florist arrived with the white peonies, Claire Whitmore had already cried twice in the bridal suite. Not beautiful, delicate tears. Not the kind that...
“WHO DID THIS TO YOU?” SAID THE MAFIA BOSS—BY DAWN, EVERY MAN IN THE CITY FEARED FOR HIS LIFE For eight months, I had been invisible. That was the first...
THE HOMELESS GIRL PULLED A MAFIA BOSS FROM A SINKING CAR—THEN HE BURNED DOWN THE CITY TO SAVE HER Detective Grady’s flashlight cut through the November rain and found Ivy...
Part 1 The first thing I remember is the light. Not the sirens, not the voice booming through the cruiser speaker, not even the cold hard slap of terror that...
Part 1 By the first hard frost of 1886, people in the valley had already begun saying that grief had taken something from Elspeth Finch that no doctor could put...
THE ABUSED WOMAN KISSED THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN CHICAGO—THEN HE WHISPERED, “NOW YOU’RE MINE” Lena Marlowe had three seconds to decide whether she wanted to survive. Three seconds. That...
“I’LL TOLERATE HER UNTIL SHE GIVES ME A SON”—THE MAFIA BOSS LAUGHED, NOT KNOWING HIS WIFE HEARD EVERY WORD The tray did not fall. That was the thing Isolda Whitmore...
THE MAFIA BOSS’S TODDLER ATTACKED EVERY NANNY—BUT WHEN THE POOR MAID KNELT DOWN, HE KISSED HER CHEEK The screams from the DeLuca penthouse had become almost routine. Another elite nanny...
Part 1 The banker did not raise his voice. Men like Mr. Sterling never had to. He sat behind his polished oak desk with his silver spectacles low on his...
THE MAFIA BOSS HEARD HER SING ONE FORGOTTEN LULLABY—THEN HE ORDERED HIS MEN TO FIND EVERYTHING ABOUT HER The little boy was sobbing alone in the middle of a crowded...