the study windows, casting shar

ight ear. On the laptop screen in front of her, the screen-reading software w

robot. Her eyes were locked onto th

tatements. The numbers blurred together for a

lars her biological parents had left her-was holl

he veins on the back of her hand bulged against her

was heavily medicated in the hospital. The funds had been funneled through three different shell

someone had poured acid directly into her stomach. The Rus

assive fraud. Do you want me to send this directly to

take a slow, deep breat

pook him now, he'll move the rest of the money into crypto, and I'll nev

from the living room. It sounded like a heavy table be

he grabbed her cane, her heart in

bled into the hallway, forcing her ste

ut, tapping the cane wi

s coffee table was flipped on its side. Sha

the floor-to-ceiling windows. His hands were clamped

gainst the wood floor. She dropped to her knee

ng up. His skin radiated a terrifying heat, and his ch

e yelled, pat

his muscles locking up in rigid, painful sp

rashed his arms out blindly. His massive hand caught

dn't pull away. She leaned closer

g in broken, br

s voice raw with agony. "Let my mother

is voice sent a chill straight down her spine. She pictured

. His head rolled to the side, and his tone s

s voice cracking. "Don't be

ls dilated, her heart

t as his fake wife; he was saying it like

ock. His breathing was becoming shallo

et. She dialed 911, her fingers flyin

r emergency?" the

ts panic, becoming sharp and clinical. "Adult male, approximately thirty. Severe hyperth

way, ma'am," the d

owel in freezing water, and ran back. She pressed the cold cloth aga

pounding on the front door

her cane, stumbled to the door, and fumbled with the l

t onto a stretcher. Aurora gripped her cane ti

ting face. Her chest ached with a strange, heavy pressure. Whoever this ma