Marcus had come down to his father's office to ask for advice before meeting with his mother. He knew that Dr. Prism examined his father regularly at this time, and he wanted to ask both the Alpha and the doctor for the most up-to-date information on his father's health before he took his concerns to the Luna.He had expected a fight from Jeanette, but what he didn't expect was to hear her screaming like a fishwife so loudly that half the third floor could hear her. People's heads were poking out of offices and bedrooms, looking astonished and trying to eavesdrop without looking like they were eavesdropping."Back to business!" Marcus had snapped repeatedly at them as he hurried along to his father's office. "I'll sort this out."Now, standing in the doorway to his father's office, he takes in the scene before him. His father looks tireder than ever, gray-faced and a little worn as he listens to his mother shriek her fury. He sits straight-backed behind his desk, though, and still has

The evening I get home after that wild confrontation with the Luna – the one where Marcus stepped in to defend me – I'm beyond exhausted. I enter the villa through the kitchen doors and toss my keys onto the countertop before pulling out my phone to scroll through a takeout delivery service app.Having settled on Chinese, I set my phone on the kitchen table and get myself a glass of water. Musing, I sit down and drum my fingers thoughtfully on the table as I wait for my food to arrive.I could go sit in the living room, but the kitchen is my favorite part of the house, something that's reinforced to me every time I come home. There – there's that word again. Home. I think of the villa as home. I'm starting to think of Kent and the gang as more than just people I've been thrown together with for the sake of a mission. I see them as friends – almost family. They're certainly a better group of people than my actual family.It's a bit funny, the fact that a gang of drug dealers turn out

I hang up my date outfit on the back of my office door as soon as I get to the Alpha's mansion that morning. I brought it with me, so that I don't have to go home to change, because obviously I can't risk Marcus knowing where I live.He could put things together too quickly if he really starts looking into who owns the villa, and even him knowing where the villa is would put too many other people at risk. Kent especially. I can't risk that.I'm a little insecure about my outfit choice, which is unlike me. I shuffled through two or three options last night before settling on this one, and it's not like I have a ton of date material in my closet right now, anyway.Yes, I get a pretty good salary here at the mansion, and I will admit that I do love to shop for clothes. It just hasn't occurred to me lately to pick up any date-worthy clothes. I never anticipated I'd be going on a date anytime soon, particularly not a date with Marcus.But I do have some options in my wardrobe, mainly dress

It's Friday afternoon, a couple of days later. I'm still glowing in the aftermath of my fantastic date with Marcus, weird little scene with Lydia notwithstanding. I'm still a little angry about that, but it's not anyone's fault – well, except Lydia's – and I certainly don't hold a grown woman's behavior against anybody else.Despite that little hiccup, and despite the gloomy and worried tone that inevitably crept in when Marcus and I discussed some of our concerns around Charles, it was a marvelous evening. I don't know that I've ever felt so taken care of, so listened to, so considered.Well, except the last time I went out with Marcus, that is.I think he might be it, I muse to myself. I don't know how I'm going to reconcile that with the fact that I'm currently parading around as someone else after having faked my own death, but I'm starting to think that this might be fate.This might be it for me. Marcus might be The One.I don't know why I'm so certain of this. I never believed

"I still can't believe it," Dr. Madison says a while later. We're reviewing the report together again, obviously after we ordered the necessary treatment to counteract the poison Emmett had been given.It's not certain whether or not he'll pull through, but he has a fighting chance.Digitalis poisoning," Dr. Madison repeats in disbelief for the third time since we first saw the results, peering over my shoulder to scan the report in my hands again. "Foxglove? My god, did they pull that from an Agatha Christie novel? Did they actually expect to get away with this?""I told you, I think he's getting desperate," I murmur, rapidly scanning the report again. "Best case, I think he was hoping that you'd assume that I screwed up – maybe even on purpose – and gave him too much of his digoxin pills. That tracks with me being the one who dispenses his medication."Next best, you'd think it was an accidental overdose – like you said, that you'd conclude he'd gotten confused and taken too much on