ry Smith-my siste

ot that night when he "generously"

ten years-there wasn't a flicker of recognition o

ure relative's child, then pressed a wad of

e then: I wasn't merely a

f wealth, I was an inconvenient gho

ill draped over Henry's arm on the dance floor, her

spital would discharge

ther's wrath would have con

rly adrift in a city that

eir imposing front steps, clinging t

wnpour finally dragged me under-not a

picked me up. Like cl

years, h

erfunded local hospital to a prop

y local college courses, he arranged-and

I would be h

e ash, but the alterna

ly only for

taking something precious from

s are better

eep only unear

.

with a head full of fog a

last night's melodram

r painkillers when

spital after he stabilized years ago-

said he'd

d like a c

surances did I throw on cloth

s hushed, smelling sharply of

s room when Lena's sickly-sweet voice

too... overwhelmed to visit just

thick with effort but crackling with fury. I a

dropped h

Four years of this is punishment enough, surely? Just take t

r ye

game was Heath

ciated but vibrating with rage-

his neck stood o

rred but venomous.‌ ‌"I want that woman arrested! It

who never carried more than loose c

utal sense of it

attack. An att

ked every attempt to fund hi

n my chest, a primal scre

o violently the heart mon