dustrial bleach burne
ile, flat acoustic tile. A cold, sticky gel pressed against her chest, co
checking an IV bag. She didn't look at Isabell
calp. She reached up with a trembling hand. Her fingers brushed aga
-screen TV hung on the pale
York news station. The banner at the bottom
rence room. Isabella recognized it immediately. It
ed black dress. She gripped a crumpled tissue in her han
perfectly. "Isabella used her position to mentally abuse me. She tol
ted. The monitor beside
y suit. He gently placed a hand on Kaylie's back, projecting absol
icially terminating our engagement with Isabell
. "Kaylie is the true heart of this family. She is the one I wa
hes strobed on the TV screen, mimic
ripped the thin white hospital sheet so tightly her knuckles t
side of the podium. Dorma
ather. The man who had taught her how to
nly the cold calculus of a Wall Street CEO. He held up a thick stac
his voice booming through the television speakers. "We are officially s
didn't show a sing
rozen and revoked all trust funds, assets, and proper
. Her eyes burned. The tears pooled, hot and stinging, but she locke
and. The clear plastic IV tub
und, dropping onto the pristine white bedsheet like a stark, glaring period at the end of a long, tragic sentence. Isabella didn't even flinch at the minor sting. The physical discomfo
de table. Her fingers smeared a drop of blood onto the gem. "The person you are trying to reach is not accepting c
te dismissal was lik
ber. Her adoptive mother. The woman w
ep signaled the call was rejected. A second l
le, bandaged face. Twenty years of family dinners, of piano recitals, of wh
es wobbled, but she l
the chair and shoved her arms into the sleeves. She didn't care
y on its axis. She collapsed back against the wall, clutching her heavily bandaged head as a fresh, agonizing spike of pain lanced through her fractured skull.
e. She scrolled past the blocked numbers of her former family and found the contact for Leo, a fiercely loyal subordinate she had secretly mentored at the firm. She typed out a frantic, fr
om her numb fingers, clattering onto the linoleum floor. The agonizing pain radiating from her head finally overwhe
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