/1/120051/coverbig.jpg?v=4a01712e23ce106edd4c8243dc08490c&imageMogr2/format/webp)
racked ceiling before it could reach anyone who might hear her die. The place was a backwood
And Seraphina had found this hidden clinic, so far from prying eyes, to protect Brianna's reputation. Unmarried
o well, Brianna
loth on Brianna's forehe
ough cracked lips. "Sera..
eraphina's back was partially turned. Her fingers
ced through Br
hat did
place, but her eyes were chips of ice. "Just
eath a sweet, poisonous whi
d would let a bastard like
the words not c
"why a stranger would be so kind to you? W
rianna's veins
"My mother was your father's mistress. I am his daughter. His real daughter. The legitimate
had welcomed Seraphina into their home
very kind word I ever said to you was a lie. Every smile, every secr
attered into a tho
d so hard to forget. We found a toothless, filthy old beggar for you. Paid him fifty dolla
g you carry that shame. Believing a beggar touched you, ruined you, when
fog and terror. She had never known what was real. An
all?" Seraphina's lips brushed
escaped Bri
st as an afterthought. "That was part of the pla
ressions were blank, their eyes empty. Their silence was consent. The death certificate
monitor
unstoppable. Her body, acting on
ak cry pier
ba
ifted a smal
r hand over the infa
crying
e go still. Watched the life dr
N
was too late. Her baby was gone. Murde
boy. He never ev
r body was giving out, the drug pulling her under. The last thing she s
p form of Brianna, then at the lifeless infan
he baby toward the older doctor. "Take it out wit
most imperceptible flutter of a pulse beneath the bluish skin. "Mis
im, her eyes blazing.
bitch really did have good luck. She had escaped the beggar Seraphina
e her everything she wanted. If she could claim this brat as her own, raise h
's still form. Unconsc
hatever it takes to keep that thing alive. But no
allowing hard. He kne
, her smile vicious. "And as for this one-dump
would present herself as the grieving sister who had lost her friend, and how
a syringe in hand, ready to finish the
"Dr. Albright? My shift started ten
he syringe onto a metal tray and left, taking the supposedly dead inf
s swept the room, landing on the pre-signed death
lse. "Your vitals are cr
ed at her abd
gainst her belly.
"There's another one.
ut off the monitor. He worked with frantic urgency, his hands steady despite the cha
he one who wasn't supposed to exist. He let out a tiny, gasp
nt in a clean sheet and thr
perfect face. A tuft of dark hair. Small, clenched fists
eal. He
er was dead. Murdered by S
hand over her baby's face. The crying stopping
g, ignited in her chest. But beneath i
my child. S
he death certificate is signed. They're planning to dump your body in the mountains tonight. No one will ever look for you. Which means no one will e
k. She nodded, a fier
hrough every muscle. She bit her lip, ta
y son will surviv
ke her pay for wha
shed it open, and disappeared into th
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