on gates. The tires crunched softly against
retched out on either side. At the end of the drive sat the massive stone archit
to a halt at th
t. He walked around the rear
ray prison-issued shirt. Her posture was absolute. She did not look at the to
oached, the heavy oak double doors were pulled
faintly of lemon polish and old money. Her cheap shoes echo
sharp, angry sounds of a heated a
is just prolonging the agon
ushing open the heavy living
hands waving wildly. Eleanor Vanderbilt sat rigidly on a green v
ice care is the only logical st
ace. Her face was pale, her eyes bloodshot from lac
voice shaking but firm. "The specialist I contacted on the dark w
laugh. "You are trusting an anonymous internet sca
he living room. She stood still for a sec
ound was quiet, but it cut th
rd the archway simultaneously. They stared at
r faded gray clothes, her lack of makeup, and h
ont gate?" Preston demanded, his
l's face, her mind racing as she matched the facial features
She turned to her siblings. "This is her. This is
saucer. The porcelain clattered loudly.
ured finger at Isabel. "She looks barely out of high sch
his forehead throbbed. "You have lost your mind, Helene! Y
ming. Her face remained a
d up the thick stack of Matilda's printed medical charts. She didn't flip through the pages. She didn't even l
e opene
cited, her voice flat and absolute. "But your doctors failed to record the micro-tremors in her left hand, specifically the index and
nto a dead, suf
care physicians and the family knew about the micro-tremors. It was e
ope. She rushed forward, stopping inches from
into Helene's tear-fill
death," Isabel declared, her tone dripp
rom his pocket, his thumb jabbing at the screen. "I am calli
e crossed her arms over her
t the second I walk out that door, y
heavy oak door behind them swung o
on in the room shifted, sucked toward th
Eleanor's hand tightened around he
omeone who had never been told to hurry in his life. Two armed guards fl
a perfectly fitted black suit with no tie. His dark hair was slightly disheveled, as if he had been running his
n't acknowledge the argument he had cl
at somehow carried more weight than Preston's sho
blinking. "And you must be t
perhaps, or curiosity-flickered
woman the world's best neurologists have abandoned," Axel said. He pushed off
," Isabel
s tall enough that she had to tilt her chin
ed lower, meant only for her. "If you fail, I taing into a cold, confident smile. "Every single time you see
oked sound of disbel
simply stared at her. Then he tilted his head, stud
bled into her space. "If I win, I don't just take your life. I take everything. Your secrets. You
ine. But when I win, you don't
absolute. Even the guards at
, stretched-out moment. Then, slow
," he
case, pausing at the first step. He looked over his shoulde
in particular. "And if she turns out to be a fra
ving Isabel standing in the center of the shattered, silen
ked into th
ended t
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