Shattered Bonds: The Ruthless Heiress Returns

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head. A clipboard slammed onto the bedside table, the plasti

th in a dirty alley, her breath turning to ice in the air. She could a

ove her wasn't a g

stic tiles in a pe

and despair. It was ant

lenched, a tight, painful knot. She wasn't dead. S

ew thi

ew thi

e month before the wo

r her, a mask of impatience. Her thin lips were a tight lin

ed, but she knew what they said. She knew what they me

etime ago. Ju

crossed over his barrel chest. He was using his 'reasonable patriarch' voice, the

to drain, to use. The donation that would crash her immune system, leaving her vulnera

, the weakness, the way her body had betrayed her long before t

ories settled deep in her chest. It pushed out the

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with disuse. It was quiet, but it landed in

genuinely shocked, her carefully constructed mask of fa

ame th

t made Arlena's teeth ache. "After everything we've done for you! Ungrat

a performance of practiced sorrow. She took Arlena's hand. Her grip w

ick with fake tears. "Think of Brandi. She's

surfaced. A loaf of bread, the last of Arlena's food. Brenda's hand, snatching

idea began to grow in the cold

hand away from

g on the button for the nurse's

voice a little stronger now. "

and Brenda exchanged a look, a flicker of anno

r tone shifting to casual conversation. "Dale and I were just saying ho

. Waited until her parents, Robert and Helen, were ou

name tag read REYNOLDS, entered th

e," Arlena said, her eyes fixe

r, Arlena's gaze flickered to the small medical tray on the bedside tabl

The scissors slid off the tray, falling silently into the f

erated to get her here. This body wasn't the hardened, starved frame of her previous life.

cup. The cool plastic was a

Dale's over the rim of the cup. "The one you booked for them. I hear

nished. His eyes widened in gen

she knew. The information was a weapon

tage slipping, surged forward ag

she hissed, grabbing Arlena's wrist. Her f

terror through Arlena. The feeling of being pushed. The

ag

r ag

ssessed flooded her limbs. It was

sh

e of her resurrected life, a

ing over her own feet and landing on th

le

na, who was now sitting up straighter, the blanket hiding the scissor

as gone. The person looking

low, menacing growl. "You little bitch. You'll regret this. I'll

t. In her last life, she had dreamed of water. Begged for it. Fought fo

od, a flick of her eyes toward Arle

on the sciss

the floor, scrambling to her feet. "I'm giv

dn't wait

d, and ripped it in half. Then in quarters. The sound of tea

or. They fluttered down like toxi

had ju