LOGINThomas was still keeping an eye on the Walton family's affairs, too — after getting burned once by the Walton brothers, he wasn't about to let his guard down again.Sharon agreed with his reasoning. Telling Wendy that Lesley might still be alive, only to have him turn out to actually be dead, would be a devastating blow."If — and I mean if — Lesley really is alive but announced his own death," Sharon asked, "is that because he's worried Jamie and Harley would hunt him down?""Jamie didn't kill him when he had the chance," Thomas said, "and he won't go after him now either. As for Harley, now that he's been exposed, Jamie isn't going to let him off the hook, which means Harley has bigger problems than turning around to deal with Lesley. And Lesley's actual reach turned out to be wider than I'd expected. Harley can only work from the shadows — he'd have no real chance going after Lesley head-on."Something complicated flickered across Sharon's face. "So Lesley gave up the fight for
Once the plane landed in Marcentine, Sharon and Thomas headed straight to the hospital to see Wendy. Sharon felt nothing but guilt where she was concerned — Wendy had looked after her all through her own illness, but when Wendy needed her in return, Sharon hadn't been there. She'd been off in Leistre taking care of Thomas instead.Pushing the hospital room door open, Sharon found Wendy pale-faced, struggling to eat. In the three months since she'd last seen her, Wendy had lost an alarming amount of weight, her face drained of all color."Wendy." Sharon's eyes stung. "I'm back."Because of the baby, Wendy's condition had actually improved a little since Sharon had left — she wanted to keep the pregnancy, and was forcing herself to eat for that reason alone. At the sight of Sharon, her eyes lit up."Sharon, you're back... Is Thomas all right?"Thomas stepped out from behind Sharon. "Wendy, I'm fine."Seeing him standing there whole and unharmed, Wendy managed her first real smile
Sharon continued, "But she's done so much for me over the years. When work got hectic and I pushed through without a break, Wendy stayed up with me until all hours. And because I hadn't secured my place as head of the family yet, she was always worried someone might try to get close to her just to use her, and she wouldn't be able to tell the difference — so she never made friends, never dated anyone. "But I know her nature. She loves noise, loves people, loves having someone to talk to. And yet at my side, she had to watch every word, tread carefully around everything. All she had was strangers online to talk to."Sharon had always felt she owed Wendy something. They'd been close friends since their school days. After Sharon married and had a child, most of her energy had gone into her family, and her contact with Wendy had faded, until months would pass without a word between them. Even when they did talk online, Sharon would often be mid-conversation when Theo started crying, a
Heat rushed through Sharon's face all at once. She meant to push Thomas away, but the instant her palm pressed against his chest, she thought of his wounds and hesitated.Thomas caught the hesitation, and the amusement in his eyes only deepened. Sharon opened her mouth to say something, but he was already kissing her — with a restraint that had clearly been holding back for far too long, tangling with her, stealing every breath and every trace of reason she had left.Her body felt like it had caught fire, heat spreading from every place his hands touched until her mind went hazy, and her arms wound around his neck without her meaning them to. As the buttons of her nightgown came undone one by one, the cool air against her skin snapped her back to awareness for a heartbeat — before the warmth of him covered her again.His lips traced a line down her jaw, her throat, her collarbone, marking every inch of skin as his. Her breath caught sharply, and her nails dragged a faint red line
Every gram of that ointment was worth more than gold. These days, Uriah and Dr. Galen had grown so fond of the Ferrero estate they had no intention of leaving. The moment they laid eyes on the family's stockpile of rare ingredients, their eyes practically lit up. Thomas had already promised they could take and use anything they wanted. He knew perfectly well the two doctors had only agreed to help him out of respect for Sharon, but he wasn't about to be stingy about it — if the Ferreros had one thing in abundance, it was rare treasures."My injuries are about healed," Thomas said. "I should be able to head back to Marcentine in a couple of days.""No rush," Sharon said. "Take a bit more time to recover first.""Harley's cunning and dangerous," Thomas said. "Better to deal with him sooner rather than later, before he causes more trouble."Noticing she'd gone quiet, her eyes fixed on him instead of answering, Thomas asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?""The day Chris and
Giancarlo adjusted the glasses on his nose. "I know what you're thinking, Mrs. Ferrero, but you really don't need to carry all this guilt. Staying by his side back then wouldn't have made much difference to the treatment anyway. Now that he's made it past this hurdle, he shouldn't relapse easily again. As long as he doesn't spend the rest of his life bottling up his emotions, things should be fine."Giancarlo chatted with Sharon a while longer before excusing himself. Stepping out of the main building, he found Marina waiting for him in the garden gazebo."All done talking?" Marina asked."All done," Giancarlo said."How's Sharon holding up? Any better?""A little better, yeah."Marina propped her chin on her hand, gazing out over the garden with something like envy in her eyes. "So that's what it looks like when Thomas is deeply in love with a woman."She'd always known Sharon meant everything to Thomas, known that he'd loved her all along — but she'd never actually witnessed t
The man stepped into the room. He was tall and lean, his frame sharp like something carved from marble. His features were almost unnaturally handsome, sculpted with a precision that bordered on surreal. His eyes glinted with an almost hypnotic light, carrying a kind of dangerous charm. Even the til
Just as Nate neared the bed, Sharon lashed out and landed a sharp kick to Nate's stomach.He staggered back, crashing hard into the nearby table. Cups and glasses flew off its surface, shattering on the ground with a piercing clatter. Kelly instinctively moved to help him, but her injured hand coul
Not sure if Sharon had pushed too hard, but Kelly suddenly collapsed to the floor.Right then, as if on cue, the door swung open. It was Carter. His eyes darkened as he spotted Kelly on the ground. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and helped her up."Kelly, are you alright?"Still caught in
Kelly dabbed at the corners of her eyes. "I heard Nate say that Sharon didn't care about Theo at all, that she went out to a bar looking for male models. And lately… she's been acting really strange.""So I just thought I'd provoke her a little," she continued, voice soft, "make her pay more attent







