onseq

r lumpy mattress in her cramped Brooklyn apartment. The radiator

r. Hayden was laughing, her head thrown back, while Julian, Francesca's older brother, ha

part, and he wanted Frances

r eyes. She had to stop him. But telling Anton that Hayden was engaged to Julian felt like throwing her brother to a wo

ding a scalpel during a minor suturing procedure. Dr. Ignatius Sallow, her at

athroom stall. Her fingers trembled as

d relationship. Please leave her

the little bubble indicate

his anger. It felt like a heavy blanket pressing down on her chest, suffocating her slowly. She tried to convince

t, pulling her thin coat tighter around her body against the biting wind. The employee parking lot was

up Toyota Corolla, fishing

out from behind a concrete

ead. Her heart slam

s. They stood with their feet apart, hands clasped in front of them, looking lik

ey belonged to. The Corbe

the jagged metal bit into her palm. She tried to step to the right to w

His voice was entirely devoid of emoti

throat was bone dry. "Tell him

say that," the gua

ch her, but he extended his arm in a rigid, poli

. Its tinted windows made it look like a hearse. The engine was runni

y would not let her leave. If she ran, they would catch her

id, her voice shaking despi

like walking toward an execution block. Her le

hicle first and pulled t

looking down at a tablet resting on his lap. The dim light illuminated the sharp bridge of his nose and the hard

nd climbed into the back seat, pressing hersel

ed by the thick, suffocating silence of the car. The air inside smelled of expensive leather and Anton's ce