sky opened over Manh
against the wind that turned rain horizontal. By the time she reached the hospital's marble l
attering, and approached the desk with the card Jasper's assistant had
r voice barely audible over the shiverin
happened whenever the Montgomery name was invoked. "Of course, Mrs.
it rose. Denice leaned against the wall, her reflection ghostly
something floral and expensive. A nurse in pink scrubs led her to an exam room,
staring at the ceiling tiles, and tried not to think about Jasper in the next room, Jasper down the hall, Jasper w
romwell said. "Just
e tube, dark and vital, and thought of Ansel's blood, of the c
oom t
ways, the light fixtures multiplying. She tried to speak
romwell's voice, distant
to think, stupidly, that the tile was col
-
y was not having
-unanswered-sat on his phone like a threat. He strode down the fifteenth-floor corridor, his white coat fla
s. The someone-is-dying tension that permea
thout breaking s
her face. "Dr. Montgomery. We
dden up. Then the hair, dark and wet and plastered to the tile. Then the face,
ni
tid, pressing for the pulse. Rapid. Thready. Her skin was burning under his touc
ere distant, professional, calm. "IV acces
a, exhaustion, the wet clothes that meant she'd walked through the storm because s
ney appeared, wheels lock
inst his chest without resistance. Her head lolled back, exposing her throat, and he saw the bruise there-f
om, stood in the doorway while they established IV access, hung fluids, checked vitals. Her temperatur
ooking to him for dismissal. "We
s came out before he could
moved to the bedside, stood over her unconsciou
er position. She was cold, calculating, mercenary. She'd sold her body for her son
seventeen block
een dollars an hour when she cou
ntil it bled rather th
ouching, almost soothing. He could feel the heat radiating from
Copeland. The woman who'd destroyed his brother. The woman who'd
A means to an end. A ves
eone to sit with the patient, remove himself from this situatio
the bedside
p, displaying a name he recognized with a sur
r Fle
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