Camila's face froze,

with confusion. "Where's Carlisle?

carpet. He walked to the bedside table and placed the blue folder down. The soft th

aid, his voice as sterile as the clinic's antisept

ppiness. It was quickly followed by a prickle of unease. Carlisle had n

ngers, her eyes darting to the door-passe

the folder.

cal movements, extracted a single document, and laid it on top. He then

lling. He wasn't a per

op of the page. The words were

nation Informe

of her, refusing to connect into a coherent th

trembling whisper. "Bone marrow dona

dismissive. His expression remained unnervingly blank. "For Miss Seraphin

lisle's childhood friend, a beautiful, fragile socialite who had been battling a rare b

explain this.

an emotion crossed Mason's face. It was a faint, almost impercep

Miss Vance," he said, his tone flat. "A fact Mr.

e ye

ears, drowning out the gentle beeping of the monitors. Three years. That w

disliked after a single conversation. She'd thought it was a

ssure and the babies' heart rates. She'd thought he was being a devoted f

to form in the depths of her mind, s

rantic, jerky motion. "No, th

rsome weight of her own body. The babies shifted, a painful, grinding pressu

e of finality. "Mr. Reyes's instructions were for y

ip. He glanced at the caller ID before ans

ad never heard before, stripped of all warmth, all affection. It was

he sig

every nerve, seized. The air in her lu

d and clinical, assessing her reac

d of pure, unadulterated annoyance. And then came the words. The

ll her to do what a good backup

.. marr

inside it. She wasn't a person to him. She was a spe

r belly, clutching it protectively, as if to sh

fixed on the phone in Mason's han

. The coldness was gone, replaced by a tone of such aching tender

voice a low, soothing murmur. "The marrow is

like that. Not once. The realizatio

st between the two tones-one for the tool, one

t was all a lie. The chance meeting. The whirlwind romance. The perf

e her were nothing more than a crop, cultivated and grown for the harvest. They we

all again, drumming against

rce, pressing down on her, crushing the air from her lungs. Dark, icy water seemed to fill her mouth and nose, drow

as dr