Her head lifted, eyes blazing with the fire I had always loved and hated in equal measure. “Don’t start with me. Not today.”I ignored the spark of defiance and thrust the papers toward her. “You borrowed money.”Her hands froze mid-motion. Her lips parted, then closed again. Slowly, hesitantly, she
Esther’s POVI almost didn’t believe it when the nurse told me.“The bills… they’re cleared.”I blinked, clutching the slip of paper in my hand. My fingers were trembling so violently I thought I might drop it. “What?”The nurse gave a brisk nod, as if this was ordinary news, not the kind of revelat
The man went pale, nodding rapidly. The orders were clear. Executed immediately. Simple. Efficient.And she would never know.When I returned to the corridor outside Carl’s room, she was gone. Only the faint trace of her scent lingered, sharp and salty with tears, heavy with despair and determinatio
Nicholas’s POVI found her by instinct.Not the guards’ directions, not Dan’s reports, not even the clinical logic of hospital layouts. All of that would have been useless if not for the bond—the invisible tether that still pulsed between us, fierce and unrelenting, even after everything. I could fe
Esther’s POVThe moment I saw him, my knees nearly gave out. Carl lay on the bed, small and fragile beneath the sterile white sheets, his chest rising and falling in a rhythm so steady it almost seemed like a lie. I had imagined worse—imagined the worst—but seeing him now, pale but alive, his tiny h
When the doctor finally emerged, weary and pale, I pounced. “She’s—?”“She’s stable,” he said, voice cautious, surprised at my intensity. “She’ll wake soon. Rest would help most now.”Relief slammed into me so hard my knees nearly buckled. I forced myself inside, ignoring his protests.She lay there