ushed. She handed a brown paper pharmacy bag to Vivian,

the bag and thrusting it at A

-Step. The shrink wrap looked tampered with, a subtle wrinkle in th

x and shook the p

white

ed it to

ssan

s shrill and

tes and, crucially, Darius Brandt. He looked annoyed at being dragge

ene demanded, her voice e

. Her hand jerked, and the

he grabbed the pill and snatched the

r palm. There were three more pills inside-which was wrong. Plan B

idence in a murder trial. "These look like... like those vitamins my aunt took wh

gasped in unison. It was

you just told everyone you didn't drug him. But now you're sneaking fertility

heir world, being a "baby trapper" was a social deat

She stammered, looking from the pills to her daughter, rea

temperature in the hallway

nt amusement he had felt earlier was gone, replaced by a deep, visceral disgu

His voice was quiet, dangerous. "

saw how quickly he believed the worst of her. It hur

t Ilene, who was stru

ndra l

he clapped her hands togeth

ruly. The production

ght there!" Ilene p

pill she had dropped. She held it betwee

ill up to his eye level. "Do you

d contempt. "The box was in y

Because I'm just a desperate

o a trash can nea

ur bloodline?" she a

the pill int

e blazing now, dark holes of in

o carry a child tha

a step to

how much I want to be a