ple duffel bag slung over her shoulder. It conta
omewhere
dge, blocking the sidewalk. Wayne looked terrible-his tie wa
way, Wayne," La
" Wayne sneered, shoving
ng headline: Meridian R&D Head Fired for Es
h triumphant malice. "My PR team is destroying you. No lab in
n over the Delta Lab patents to Meridian, and publicly apologize to Jessica. Do that, and maybe Wayn
lt a profound, exhausting pity for how pathologically delu
" Eleanor raised her h
a low, terrifying rumble v
shark through shallow water. Behind it, four massive, black ar
doors of the Range Rovers flew open, and a dozen men in tailored black suits po
ce opened, and an elderly man
speak, Eleanor burst int
rly man, her face ugly with jealousy and contempt. "Is this him
Sleeping with a man old enough to be in a grave just to
treated the Sterlings like buzzing flies. He walked straight past the
rying clearly in the dead silent street.
had grown up in a damp, loveless orphanage, believing she was a piece of trash t
fensive venom. "Hiring actors to play my long-lost family so I'll drop
is eyes softening with d
ly orchestrated a fire at the hospital where you were born. In the chaos, they kidnapped you and abandoned you to destroy the D
ery foundation of her identity. Kidnapped? Searched for? But she forced her face to remai
id, her voice trembling sl
k, you submitted a routine blood sample at the city hospital. It
screen was an official DNA report
"I can forge a PDF like this in five minutes," she said stubbornly
ply reached out and swiped
a f
ned by time. But it wasn't just the physical resemblance that shattered Lana's defenses. It was the
ing herself to sleep, wondering why she wasn'
her shaking hands. Her vision
nd, unable to stand being ignored. "Is that your pricing me
't look at Wayne. The noise of the St
, abused orphan was gone. When she spoke, her voice
to them
htened up. His eyes finally locked onto
security. "If they come within fifty feet of
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