While I Was Fighting For My Life, He Chose Her

thered, all her pieces neatly tucked in, since yesterday morning, when the pain had arrived, and the wor

the next few hours, which pieces would fit in, which pieces would be best left here in the sterile, quiet hospital room with the

that it was policy to keep patients for a full twenty-four hours post-op to observe them. Lena nodded, and said she understood, entirely, and then asked to speak to the docto

ce out of the paper bag she'd been given yesterday afternoon, observed the transaction w

eaving,"

lea

ery thirty s

radually applying pressure, waiting for the give. Her incision pulled. She breathed agai

d his chopstick

ere (she said it to mean her office, not Ethan's) called and request

s fell ove

Holdings know who you

pushing back the ache that had settled deep in her bones. Daniel started making calls late last night, as I requested, but information, if it needs

ou inside," Sera said.

in the black, lifeless screen of her cell. It was stark

t to get

always give when they can tell that their patient has already made up their mind, and they are going through the motions for their paperwork and professional integrity rather than ou

ena occupied those twenty minutes in the back of Sera's sedan, reading the second batch of files that D

family was linked in a way that could only be deliberate, in that each point could easily be explained away individually, was undeniable as a collective. She read withou

iked to engender in people pre-meeting. Lena had walked it dozed of times in the role of Ethan's wife and had always negotiated it from within that position of a visitor, rather than arrival. The guard at the front desk registered her face and waved her on with the polite n

open to moderat

ard to remain professional while an expensive flame guttered. Three unknown faces passed her as they left with work that they were already carrying around, tablets and folders and the tangible dregs of a morning that

meone d

, a suit she registered instantly as belonging to the kind of man who buys things to signal an ambition that isn't yet in place. He held a phone to his ear, and when his gaze la

. Not as Le

nly for her to hear, and that name in that corridor in that building stru

he said. Equally l

morning with Hargrove was not a market problem, nor an accident. Someone within the company supplied information that leaked to Marcus Cole's lawyers at s

Then why call me,

that was scheduled, as far as I can see, exactly 40 minutes before the deal fell apart." He let that hang in the air for exactly the right length of tim

s," Lena

it in her hand, and she turned it over in the light. And she had seen the ugly, familiar texture

she said. "The internal communications for the last t

p three years of the last of company politics on the spot,

t never in her life had she walked into a room and not felt she was supposed to be there. "Lena." Vivienne Cole said, as though they were old friends on the verge of a priva