ty was suffoca

going to hold a grand welcome-hom

reality, it was to formally introduce Maddie to al

addie to everyone," my mother said, h

status and support her in becoming the heir of our f

s so

t of triumph in her eyes. "Chloe, can

his gaze cold. "Chloe, th

her? I

e than a blood supply, waking up to find I had lost

ces, so self-assured

rig

to breathe a s

of satisfaction. "That's more like it,

sens

what wou

to give them a gift that

ys, I behaved with

ntimacy between Maddie and Reece, and even offere

ttitude complete

d accepted realit

ent undercurrents bene

ed the key my grandfather had h

y my grandpa's lawyer, I op

ow my father used despicable means to seize my grandfather's life's work, falsify a

ocuments, locking the

at could destroy the entire Holt famil

citing my need for physical recovery,

, but under my father'

ation" again, instead asking him dai

own body, all the while coa

e weakest link i

d some cons

other person's hematopoietic stem cells?" I asked one day

rly missing its mark. "There can be im

mething from a sci-fi m

't dare to look at me. "Just

is that theoretical mirac

d his head, his eyes filled with ter

the edge of breakdown, kn

cold as ice. "Martin, I'm not begging you. I

document to

had discovered through my private

s and needed expensive target

op medical school abroad, w

was funded b

d your wife to the best hospital in Ladino and ensure your son en

rly. "On the day of the party, I want you

tremble violently, sw

from power, you would be the first one to be made the scapegoat. With me, you become a key witness, protected by my gra

ned him for twenty years, and on the other

ng time, so long I th

oodshot eyes, his voice h

mil

had taken

t family's estate was ablaze wit

r, wearing a long black dress, watching e

, looked like a proud swan, her arm linked with Reece's,

de, introduced her "sensible and obe

th industry giants, reveling in

d so happy,

daughter, was the on

o go down," the butler gent

was about