high ceilings. The silence in the living

e. He looked at his red-faced eldest s

oth. His gaze locked onto Cordelia, who

lia's feigned trembling. He saw not a family dispute, but a failure of

now, but it carried the absolute weight of a d

did not shrink under the old man's intense stare. S

ection. Glenwood shot him a look so col

onsider it compensation for the years you spen

gleamed with a frantic, desperate joy

rned. This was not just losing custody. This was his father

itzpatrick blood does not live with outsiders. You

yes swept across the room. "Now. Tell

he room was tense, waiting for the filthy girl to make a

k sneer. He did not believe for a second that anyone in

shes cast shadows over her cheeks, hiding

injured right hand. She

pass. It swept past Antoinette, who was holding her breat

irectly at the broad, wrinkled back of

a said. Her voice ran

the target of her finger. They stared

oughed violently, pounding his chest. He spun around and star

Byron gasped, his blue eye

n he threw his head back and laugh

u choose a degenerate who can't even wake u

. "Cordelia, do not be ridiculous. Your uncle doesn't

ws knitted together. He had assumed the girl would

tone heavy. "Are you certain? Byr

er grandfather. She tilted her head up and

id not waver. "Because just now, he was

His heart gave a strange, violent thump against hi

d. The simple, brutal logic of his daughter's reason