A False Heiress's Guide to Love and Power

Chapter 470

“I miss my grandma, Miss, my grandma’s going to be okay, right?”

Alessia’s mind was drifting in and out, Susannah Holt’s trembling voice echoing in the darkness. Alessia opened her mouth, meaning to comfort the girl, but no words would come. Her chest tightened; her breathing grew shallow, her vision blurring at the edges. Just as sleep threatened to pull her under, Alessia bit down hard on her tongue, forcing herself to stay awake.

“Miss? Miss, what’s wrong?” Susannah’s panic was immediate and contagious, her fear swelling in the cramped darkness.

“I’m fine… Your grandma’s fine too. I’m just, a little tired. I need to rest for a bit,” Alessia managed, her voice little more than a whisper.

“No, you can’t sleep! You said you can’t sleep, remember?” Susannah sobbed, but she remembered Alessia’s warning and kept talking, desperate to keep her teacher conscious.

Fumbling in the darkness, Susannah’s small hand finally found Alessia’s–it was cold as ice. Tears welled up in Susannah’s eyes; her hands trembled as she tried to cup Alessia’s, as though she could warm

her back to life.

She called Alessia’s name again and again, but Alessia could only muster the faintest response, as if she might vanish at any moment.

beneath Alessia’s hand and, just as Alessia had taught her, she started banging it against the ceiling

stay calm for Alessia’s sake. She talked to her teacher, knocked on the stone, then talked some

to stay

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Chapter 470

lips curled in a feeble smile; faces she’d known flickered before her eyes–until, at last, she saw Cole, right before they parted, with that wounded, forlorn look

thought. “If only I’d just told him how much I cared,

had said again and again that he wanted to visit, but

be caught

able to keep a straight face at Cole’s rare look of flustered embarrassment. She’d been cross with him that night, not wanting him to risk another secret trip. The journey was long, his job demanding; she’d rather he rest on his days off than fly halfway across the country just for a brief visit, only to leave again the next

her became too much; even knowing she’d be upset, he’d arranged a helicopter and come

only she’d told him how much he meant to her that day. If

from Alessia’s eye, even as a soft smile lingered

she was slipping away, a faint noise echoed