in the air. "I can assure you,

fore he could process it, he hung up the video call with Kinsey, his face harden

arp and painful: Justina, a year ago, working through the night to counter a smear campaign launched by a business rival, pr

had sat in boardrooms as his proxy, smiling through meetings while her own body screamed with exhaustion. She had buried scandals that would have to

him. He saw her sway slightly on her feet, and his

been burned. "Don't touch m

isten to me," he said, his voice strained with a frustration that felt almost despera

e dam of her composure, alre

body the only one that matters to you? What about when I gave you

h from a past he couldn't remember. It was her most vuln

mask of pure confusion. "What

er outburst not as a cry of pain, but as the incoherent rambling of a wo

arby table. "There's five million on

like a gunshot in the silent room. Five million dollars. The price of her silence. Th

, do you?" she said, her voice barely a whisper. "You don't remember the

said, but something flickered in his eyes-a

ragedy of us, Hayden. You've forgotten the o

ne rang again. This time it was his assistant.

ce. "What do you mean, critical? The doctor said what?" He gra

ust turned and strode toward the elevator, his focus entire

ors slid shut,

ntil her legs felt like they might buckle. She walked, zombie-like, to the expansive, back-lit wine cellar built into the wall. Her hands bypas

fingers, she opened it and lifted

sive liquid a burning trail down her throat, a desperate attempt to numb the fist of pain

you my blood? It made no sense. He dismissed it as melodrama, a desperate, last-ditch attempt to wound him. And yet... the image of h

ched in her hand. The city lights blurred into a meaningless smear of

ection, the word a ghost on the c

y, her eyes holding a glint of cold triumph. She drank again, the alc

cuff. "It was the stress, Hayden, darling," she whispered. "Knowing she's still there... it feels like I can't breathe." She e

dow, collapsing onto the plush, expensive carpet. The empty bottle rolled from her grasp. She was a cure, a livin

a final, coherent thoug

assistant. "Whatever it takes," he said, his voice cold as ste