ocking. She was carrying a silver breakfast tray, which she slammed

r tone thick with insolence. "She was worried you m

insult. Her focus was on the c

ent, are we? The doctor wil

ks, I believe I made my position clear yesterday. You are no l

oom, a triumphant smile on her face. She was followed by Theodore, who was escort

as poison. "We were just telling Dr. Miller h

e a foul smell: Aria was a gold-digger, overly ea

shocking. Her eyes filled with tears, her lower lip began to

andfather," she said, using the familial title for the fir

sudden display of vulnerability from th

you're used to. I know I don't belong here. But I care about Hadley. I truly do. But

e. "It's almost as if," she said, her voice laced with a naive, dawning horror, "some

imple girl's observation, hit

ned white with fu

was a shrewd man. He knew Vivian had benefited from Hadley's condition, runni

lent posture and Vivian's poorly concealed rage.

dismissed. Pack your bags and be

nce. Vivian sputtered, "Theodore, you

ng no room for argument. He then turned his icy gaze

ok of pure, unadulterated hatred before storming out o

m defiant vixen to weeping victim in a heartbeat, using his own grandfather as a weapon to eliminate her enemies. He also noted her choice of words: "doesn't wa

t except for Aria's s

ia's shoulder awkwardly. "There, there, child. I will hand

wiped her eyes, her expression shifting in

ight in Hadley's unresponsive pupils, tapping his knees for reflexes, listening to his h

omething the d

ible tremor in his fingers. And when the doctor pressed on his fingernails, she

ked in a long-term patient. But to a t

low-dose

ld guess. It had been a hypothesis. And she had ju