sky opened over Manh

against the wind that turned rain horizontal. By the time she reached the hospital's marble l

attering, and approached the desk with the card Jasper's assistant had

r voice barely audible over the shiverin

happened whenever the Montgomery name was invoked. "Of course, Mrs.

it rose. Denice leaned against the wall, her reflection ghostly

something floral and expensive. A nurse in pink scrubs led her to an exam room,

staring at the ceiling tiles, and tried not to think about Jasper in the next room, Jasper down the hall, Jasper w

romwell said. "Just

e tube, dark and vital, and thought of Ansel's blood, of the c

oom t

ways, the light fixtures multiplying. She tried to speak

romwell's voice, distant

to think, stupidly, that the tile was col

-

y was not having

-unanswered-sat on his phone like a threat. He strode down the fifteenth-floor corridor, his white coat fla

s. The someone-is-dying tension that permea

thout breaking s

her face. "Dr. Montgomery. We

dden up. Then the hair, dark and wet and plastered to the tile. Then the face,

ni

tid, pressing for the pulse. Rapid. Thready. Her skin was burning under his touc

ere distant, professional, calm. "IV acces

a, exhaustion, the wet clothes that meant she'd walked through the storm because s

ney appeared, wheels lock

inst his chest without resistance. Her head lolled back, exposing her throat, and he saw the bruise there-f

om, stood in the doorway while they established IV access, hung fluids, checked vitals. Her temperatur

ooking to him for dismissal. "We

s came out before he could

moved to the bedside, stood over her unconsciou

er position. She was cold, calculating, mercenary. She'd sold her body for her son

seventeen block

een dollars an hour when she cou

ntil it bled rather th

ouching, almost soothing. He could feel the heat radiating from

Copeland. The woman who'd destroyed his brother. The woman who'd

A means to an end. A ves

eone to sit with the patient, remove himself from this situatio

the bedside

p, displaying a name he recognized with a sur

r Fle