eyes and the covered gurney. He found a quiet, empty waiting al

spreading through her limbs, the rapid clatter

his chest like a shield. He had received the automated emergency alert from the Mills Corporation's executive health protocol the moment August was admitted, and he h

nds. He pulled out a massive stack of finan

bling. "All the corporate accounts are frozen.

he sharp edge of the top page sliced the pad of her index finger, but she

to a horrified whisper. "It was a coordinated short sque

ped a specific signatur

Alexis with pity. "And she had an inside partner who pr

he page. "Ca

k ink. Her fingernails dug so hard into her palms that the s

out another woman. It was a smokescreen to distract her while Carlos an

eyes to her daughter. "Did you know?" Harriette hissed, taking a trembling step forward. "Did you know about this and say nothing? !" Alexis was too paralyzed by shock to form a single word. Her si

clamped down aroun

amed, spit flying from her lips, her face contorte

d purple. But she didn't raise her hands to fight back. Her arms hung limp at her sides, her

s flared with

ed around Harriette's wrist like a steel vice. With one brutal, calcul

ildly, her hand blindly grasping the base of

ung the solid steel base upward,

heavy metal edge scraped violently against the back of his hand, tearing

gushed from the wound, streaming down the side

smell of blood-it all blurred into a dull hum. Alexis's eyes rolled b

d. He pulled her bleeding head against his

t roared, his voice shaking th

rushed in, tackling the screaming Harri

onto the flat mattress. As they wheeled her away, he st

n the floor. He stared at the names Dollie Warner and