operating room door glow

right knuckles was stark white as he clenched his fist. Amelie's bl

she fell, echoed in his mind. A restless,

anic. She rushed to his side, her face streaked with

the operating room door. "She tried to kill

clutched his arm, her sobs escalating. "It's all my fault... I shouldn't

tion away from Amelie's suicide a

rief. "I asked the groundskeeper... He said... he said he saw her that day. He saw her put th

ent, theatrical sobs. This lie was a hundred times more venomous than "s

rage and revulsion so profound it was nauseating. Any last, lingering shred of complexity

by a chilling certainty. "A woman like that," he sa

A formidable older woman with an air of immen

now?" It was his aunt, Rowena Slater. She saw the b

uous sneer on her face. "She's a disgrace to the Slater name.

wena, who gave her a nod of approva

s is the famous Beaumont girl who had Jonas wrappe

quiet," Ro

rgeon emerged. "We saved her, but she lost a

d, his face

urgeon. "Move her to a standard room. No

face as white as the sheets

ed forward. Without warning, she slappe

lent hallway. A red welt immedia

spat. "Trying to gain sympath

id nothing. His sil

y gleam in them as he looked at

ed, a small, hidden smile playing on her lips.

the end of a deserted wing. No nurs

in. Her throat was parched. She tried to re

her room c

, whistling softly. He lo

sity. "Cousin-in-law," he purred, deliberately using the intimate t

ce. She was too weak to even sit up

the pillow next to her head, the o