dustrial bleach burne

ile, flat acoustic tile. A cold, sticky gel pressed against her chest, co

checking an IV bag. She didn't look at Isabell

calp. She reached up with a trembling hand. Her fingers brushed aga

-screen TV hung on the pale

York news station. The banner at the bottom

rence room. Isabella recognized it immediately. It

ed black dress. She gripped a crumpled tissue in her han

perfectly. "Isabella used her position to mentally abuse me. She tol

ted. The monitor beside

y suit. He gently placed a hand on Kaylie's back, projecting absol

icially terminating our engagement with Isabell

. "Kaylie is the true heart of this family. She is the one I wa

hes strobed on the TV screen, mimic

ripped the thin white hospital sheet so tightly her knuckles t

side of the podium. Dorma

ather. The man who had taught her how to

nly the cold calculus of a Wall Street CEO. He held up a thick stac

his voice booming through the television speakers. "We are officially s

didn't show a sing

rozen and revoked all trust funds, assets, and proper

. Her eyes burned. The tears pooled, hot and stinging, but she locke

and. The clear plastic IV tub

und, dropping onto the pristine white bedsheet like a stark, glaring period at the end of a long, tragic sentence. Isabella didn't even flinch at the minor sting. The physical discomfo

de table. Her fingers smeared a drop of blood onto the g

em. "The person you are trying to reach is not accepting c

te dismissal was lik

ber. Her adoptive mother. The woman w

ep signaled the call was rejected. A second l

le, bandaged face. Twenty years of family dinners, of piano recitals, of wh

es wobbled, but she l

the chair and shoved her arms into the sleeves. She didn't care

y on its axis. She collapsed back against the wall, clutching her heavily bandaged head as a fresh, agonizing spike of pain lanced through her fractured skull.

e. She scrolled past the blocked numbers of her former family and found the contact for Leo, a fiercely loyal subordinate she had secretly mentored at the firm. She typed out a frantic, fr

om her numb fingers, clattering onto the linoleum floor. The agonizing pain radiating from her head finally overwhe