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CHAPTER 63: STABILIZED
publish date:
2026-10-10 14:43:27
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THE COST OF LOVING YOU CHAPTER 92: DISAGREEMENT
The report reached Serena at eight o'clock the next morning, while she was still in her silk robe, eating a single slice of dry toast.It came from a man she paid very well to be curious. He was a private investigator with a cheap suit and no conscience, and she had hired him a week after the dinner at Luca's, in case she ever needed to know where Parker Bruno slept.She read the message once.Then she put down the toast.*Subject traveled to Brooklyn Heights last evening. Entered the residential building at 41 Garrow Street. Spoke at length to an intercom. Left after eleven minutes, in a state of visible distress. Two security men followed him out.*Serena stared at the screen.*Garrow Street.*She did not need to look it up. She had seen that name in the same report as a photograph of a girl in a purple sweater, coming out of an old brick building with a worn bag on her shoulder."You *idiot,*" Serena whispered. She was dialing before she had finished the word.He picked up on the s
THE COST OF LOVING YOU CHAPTER 91: PARKER MOVES ON AVA
Ava's phone rang at six-forty in the evening, just as she was putting the kettle on.She had been home for two hours. She had showered, changed into a clean yellow sweater, and eaten half a sandwich standing at the counter. Margaret had slept through most of the afternoon, and Dr. Patel had called twice to say that her numbers were holding. It was the first time in days that Ava had felt something close to quiet.She looked at the screen.*Elias Brandt.*She answered at once."Miss Williams." His voice was low. "Parker Bruno left his office twenty minutes ago. He took a private car. It is currently on Montague Street, and it is slowing down."Ava's hand tightened on the phone. "Where is he going?""Your building."The kettle began to whistle. She did not hear it."How far?""Two minutes. My people are behind him. We can stop him on the street, if you like.""No.""Miss Williams…""No." She drew a slow breath. "Let him come. I want to hear what he says."A pause."Understood. I'll have
THE COST OF LOVING YOU CHAPTER 90: THE FINGER BRUSH
By ten o'clock, the waiting room was almost empty.The man with the cast had been collected by a tired wife in a raincoat. The young father had gone home with his sleeping baby. A cleaner had mopped the floor in long, slow strokes and wheeled his yellow bucket away down the hall. Now there was only the hum of the vending machine, the soft buzz of the lights, and the two of them in the corner.The sky outside the windows had turned a deep, inky blue. The city glittered below it. Every few minutes, the headlights of an ambulance swept across the ceiling and were gone.Ava's eyes were closed, but she was not asleep.She could feel everything.She could feel the cold edge of the plastic chair under her thighs. She could feel the wall behind her head. She could feel, very clearly, the warmth of the man beside her, a few inches away, like a small fire in a cold room.*Don't think about it.**Think about Grandma. Think about the next seventy-two hours. Think about anything else.*Her hand la
THE COST OF LOVING YOU CHAPTER 89: WAITING ROOM HONESTY
The paper cup rolled in a slow half circle across the carpet and came to rest against the leg of a chair. Neither of them looked at it.Ava stood in the doorway with the folder pressed against her chest. Her face did not change. But her eyes moved over him, slowly, from his rumpled shirt to his tired face to the cold coffee by his shoe. She took in the dust on his shoulder from the dry plant. She took in the shadows under his eyes.Nico had risen from his chair. He did not step forward. He kept both hands at his sides, open and still, the way he had shown the guard."Ava," he said. His voice was hoarse. It sounded like he had not used it in hours."What are you doing here?"She asked it quietly. It was not an angry question. It was only very tired."I heard," Nico said. "I came." That was all. He did not say, *I'm sorry.* He did not say, *Let me help.* He did not say, *I can pay for the best doctors in the world.* He stood there in the middle of the waiting room, with his hands empt
THE COST OF LOVING YOU CHAPTER 88: NICO AT THE GATES
Nico was in the middle of a phone call with a banker when Claire knocked on the glass wall of his office.She did not wait for him to answer. She stepped inside and held up her tablet, and the look on her face made him hang up without saying goodbye."What is it?""I just had a call from a friend in the patient accounts office at Mount Sinai." Claire kept her voice low. "I stayed in touch with her, after the matter with the bill. She told me something that she probably shouldn't have.""Go on.""Margaret Moreau was taken to the ICU this morning. It was a serious collapse." Claire swallowed. "Her granddaughter signed a very large authorization for new treatment a few hours ago. My friend said that everyone on the floor is nervous."Nico stood up without even realising. He only noticed that his chair had rolled backward and hit the window."Where is she now?""Still in the hospital, as far as I know.""Get my coat.""Sir, with respect. Does Miss Williams know that you're…""No.""She di
THE COST OF LOVING YOU CHAPTER 87: THE HOSPITAL SCARE
The Williams Tech boardroom had a long table made of dark glass. Twelve people sat around it, all in grey and navy suits. Ava sat at the head, in a plain black dress, with her yellow notebook open in front of her."The quarterly numbers are strong," said a man at the far end. "But the board feels we should discuss the leadership structure before the end of the year. In light of the, um, change of ownership.""Of course," Ava said. "What does the board suggest?""Well, we would like to…"Her phone buzzed on the table. She glanced down. Then she looked again.Mount Sinai.Ava never answered her phone in a meeting. Ms. Nair, seated beside her, saw her face change and went very still. "Excuse me," said Ava. She stood up. "I have to take this."She was already walking when she pressed the green button."Miss Williams?" It was Dr. Patel. His voice was calm, but fast. "I'm sorry to call you like this. It's your grandmother. She collapsed in the hallway about twenty minutes ago. She's in the
THE COST OF LOVING YOU CHAPTER 5: THE TERMS
“You’ve got some nerve,” Nico said, leaning back in his leather chair.“I know,” Ava’s voice was steady, though he could hear the faint tremor of desperation. “I need to talk business.”“Business? You slapped me. That’s a hell of a way to start a negotiation.”“I’m not negotiating. I’m offering,” s
THE COST OF LOVING YOU CHAPTER 4: THE OFFER
The apartment was quiet, save for the hum of the ceiling fan and the distant sound of traffic filtering through the closed window.Ava lay on her small sofa, staring up at the water stains on the ceiling. It was past midnight, but sleep felt like a foreign concept. Her body was exhausted, heavy wit
THE COST OF LOVING YOU CHAPTER 3: Pride & Poison
Nico Jordan didn’t sleep that night. He paced the penthouse on the 62nd floor of One57, bare feet on cold marble. From the bar to the window and back, gazing out at Manhattan below like it was mocking him… sirens, horns, that endless drone of people chasing things they’d never catch. It matched the
THE COST OF LOVING YOU CHAPTER 1: The Wrong Kind of Relief
The Velvet Room Spa was a members-only wellness club, money flows like water here and morality was often left at the gold-leafed doors.Ava Williams had been hired three weeks ago. She was a specialist—deep tissue, sports, prenatal. She was the best they had, and she kept her head down. She knew th
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