utside the 24-hour veterinary clinic in downtown Chicago. She threw the door

" she yelled, rush

a gurney, hauling the gasping

n desk, water dripping from

across the counter. "We need to drain the fluid from his lungs and stitch the lacer

soaked leather wallet. She pulled out her C

the card. The machine le

LIN

ded, panic rising in her ch

ed the numbers in ma

a'am. Insuffi

lashed across the top of the screen. Every single joint credit card, every savings a

oxygen. He wanted her crawli

Buddy let out a weak

h hitched. She

sted Patek Philippe watch. Fount had tossed it to her in a jewelry box tw

ty-thousand-dollar w

ling but fierce. "I am going to the pawnshop down th

the watch, then at Idella's

ing four thousand dollars in crumpled bills onto the desk-

bathroom. She stripped off her freezing, wet clothes and pulled on a

personal research notebooks. The early patent drafts she had wri

iating gaze of the lobby security guards as they escorted

floor. Idella pushed open the glass doors to

he hum of office chatter died in

-people who had kissed up to her just yesterday-wer

. She marched strai

d been violently pried open. The metal was bent and

. The cover was bent, and several pages were carelessly crumpled, but it was left behind, tossed aside like garbage. They hadn't even bot

della demanded, glaring

hair. "Compliance department did a routine sw

er move. He was strippi

her remaining personal photos and a few useless p

od slowly seeped from the wounds on the palms of

on, the private executive elevato

brass door

s. She wore a pristine, tailored white Chanel suit, loo

p gray sweatpants, and finally to the pathetic cardboard box in h

he looked at Idella with wi

are truly this desperate for you, the Fitzgerald Charity Foundation run

her let out a chorus o

ched. She didn't say a word. She just stared dead into Angelita's