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ain drove into the b
s system. Every fragmented image was accompanied by a visceral sensation-the smell of sterile hospital rooms, the agonizing sting of betrayal, the cold emptiness of dying alone. The sensory overload spiked her hea
a low, suppressed sob echoed a
tured. It grated agai
ver tip of her cane into the floor. The heavy thud wa
wly lifte
stead, her gaze was a sheet of solid ice, slicing s
ok in Clara's eyes made her physically recoil. S
owed. She hated the
red, her voice cold and absolute. "Yo
d, her face twisted in a mask of perfect pity. Every word w
t panic. Sh
a short, b
oze the air
le. She opened her mouth to scream,
ed the five-carat pink diamond engage
nk. The skin around her knuckle turned red,es widene
ulti-million-dolla
ed onto the marble coffee ta
ac
diamond caught the chandelier's light, blindingly
p. She looked
agement
peech she had prepared died in her thr
retch!" Eleanor shrieked, he
hed a nonexistent piece of lint off her skirt.
ssal. She lunged upward, reach
m feeling of countless hours of brutal, life-or-death struggles surged through her veins,
rried her forward. She lost her balance and cr
rown liquid splashed across the front
scream. She frantically cl
!" Eleano
the hardwood floors as m
ero empathy. She turned her ba
rward on instinct, but Clara shot him a glare
bbed the heavy brass handles of the double
a
off the screaming. T
eps. She inhaled the crisp,
ked up at the second-floor windo
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