Chapter 7
The shoe wearer arrived two hours later as I sat on the second-floor landing just like I’d done as a child. Wiping sandwich crumbs off my fingers, I gazed down through slats in the banister and considered my father’s tuxedo-clad form.
Dr. Hart looked much the same as he had two decades earlier. “Dining with donors tonight,” he would have explained when he left me in the care of my nanny. Even at eight, I’d already understood he was meeting someone rich and willing to buy one of his finds.
There’d never been a woman on his arm at the time, but Justine fit in the picture perfectly. Her gown matched Dr. Hart’s pocket square and her slim build showed off his wide shoulders to advantage.
She was also the one who met my eyes the moment the pair came through the doorway. “Olivia! I
