the study windows, casting shar
ight ear. On the laptop screen in front of her, the screen-reading software w
robot. Her eyes were locked onto th
tatements. The numbers blurred together for a
lars her biological parents had left her-was holl
he veins on the back of her hand bulged against her
was heavily medicated in the hospital. The funds had been funneled through three different shell
someone had poured acid directly into her stomach. The Rus
assive fraud. Do you want me to send this directly to
take a slow, deep breat
pook him now, he'll move the rest of the money into crypto, and I'll nev
from the living room. It sounded like a heavy table be
he grabbed her cane, her heart in
bled into the hallway, forcing her ste
ut, tapping the cane wi
s coffee table was flipped on its side. Sha
the floor-to-ceiling windows. His hands were clamped
gainst the wood floor. She dropped to her knee
ng up. His skin radiated a terrifying heat, and his ch
e yelled, pat
his muscles locking up in rigid, painful sp
rashed his arms out blindly. His massive hand caught
dn't pull away. She leaned closer
g in broken, br
s voice raw with agony. "Let my mother
is voice sent a chill straight down her spine. She pictured
. His head rolled to the side, and his tone s
s voice cracking. "Don't be
ls dilated, her heart
t as his fake wife; he was saying it like
ock. His breathing was becoming shallo
et. She dialed 911, her fingers flyin
r emergency?" the
ts panic, becoming sharp and clinical. "Adult male, approximately thirty. Severe hyperth
way, ma'am," the d
owel in freezing water, and ran back. She pressed the cold cloth aga
pounding on the front door
her cane, stumbled to the door, and fumbled with the l
t onto a stretcher. Aurora gripped her cane ti
ting face. Her chest ached with a strange, heavy pressure. Whoever this ma
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