m. Eleanor threw a fifty-dollar bill onto the front seat-she didn't wait for the change, couldn't spare a single second. S

re filled with shards of glass. "My grandmother," she gasped, her voice s

r, her heels clicking wildly against the linoleum floor, each frantic step a prayer she cou

gainst the cold metal. A hand grabbed her arm, firm and unyielding. Dr. Thorne stood in th

rough her feet. The world tilted, the edges of her vision darkening. Through the glass window, she saw the nurses pulling the tubes away from her grandmother's fra

back, but she felt nothing. Dr. Thorne caught her under the arms, holding her u

hield her grandmother from death itself. She grabbed her grandmother's hand-the skin was already turning cold, the familiar warmth leaching away into an unbearable absence. Eleanor pressed the cold, wrinkled hand to her face, the papery skin

, a snarl twisting her features. She couldn't be touched. She couldn't be comforted. She screamed her grandmother's name

anor gagged, clamping a hand over her mouth. Black spots danced at the edges of her vision, swarming like angry wasps. The high-pitched ringing in her

un violently. The floor rushed up to meet her, and everything w

the thin mattress offering no comfort. Panic jolted through her like electricity. She shot up, the world lurching with the movement, and

her legs over the side of the bed, her voice

f concern and urgency. "You need to stay calm," he said, his voice hard but not unkind. He

on. Her brain refused to process the words. Pregnant. The word echoed in the hollow cavity of he

w, as if he understood the weight of this impossible moment. "It's not ju

iny flicker of something-life. Shock paralyzed her muscles, a numbing, frozen disbelief that stole her breath. Then came the fear, crashing over her like a black

victorious smile, that gloating, predatory curve of lips that had fed on her pain. If Griffin found out-if he knew about these babies-he would take them. He had the money. He had the po

Her dull eyes, which had been hollow and shattered, suddenly sharpened. The trembling in her hands steadied. Th

ce steadying, each word a quiet vow etche

ed out the window at the setting sun, its dying light painting the sky in hues of blood and gold. The tears still fell, silent now, tracing cold path

m, her voice low and fierce, trembling with a love so fero