Bring Your A Game, Mr

And I never even got to see my own biological parents. Am I just not good enough? She then thought about what Joshua had said—that she was only adopted, and no matter how close of a bond she and her grandparents might share, they were ultimately separated by the lack of blood relation. If it all came down to choosing between her and Joshua, there was no telling whether Robin and Laura would or wouldn’t pick Joshua. Elise would always be the one left behind; abandonment was a fate she had been born into. “Everyone is different,” Alexander prompted meaningfully, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“Maybe,” she murmured as she spun and headed for the door. At the sight of this, he rose from the couch and asked, “Where are you going?” “To save Jeremy.” She had changed her mind; regardless of whether Amelia would survive the ordeal, she would still spare the woman’s son. It didn’t take long for Alexander and Elise to arrive at the hospital. Under Elise’s expert skills in acupuncture, Jeremy regained consciousness from his coma, though his last memory was the one from the other day when he had badgered Elise. Now that he was looking at her the moment he opened his eyes, his hand flew to his neck as he demanded warily, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Your mother’s been hospitalized,” Elise explained icily. “What? What the hell did you do to my mom?!” he roared as he bolted upright in bed. “You little b*tch! I swear I’ll make you pay if anything happens to my mom!” She narrowed her eyes and shot him a dangerous look. “Keep saying that if you want to be a comatose forever.” Jeremy knew better than to challenge her, so he shut up like she told him to. When Elise left, he hurried to look into Amelia’s whereabouts. By the time he found her room, Amelia was already awake. “Mom! Are you alright? Why would you do such a thing?

now; you’re awake and that’s all that matters.

her eyes. “That’s enough. Don’t go around saying stuff like that anymore. That woman is someone we can’t afford to trifle with!” With slow hesitation, she added, “In the few days that you’ve been unconscious, the Olson Family has gone bankrupt.” A loud ringing filled Jeremy’s ears like his mind

to us for us to lower our guard!” “What?” He crashed to the floor in a miserable heap. Bewildered,

ceiling with a faraway gaze as she added, “It was our fault for pushing Elise’s limits. We need to know our place now and we have to realize that our glory days have come to an end.” “No! I won’t do it! I won’t go down like this!” Jeremy couldn’t accept the fact that he

of him getting beaten into a pulp headlined the entertainment gossip column. He suffered such severe brain damage from the assault that rumor had it he wouldn’t be the same

from custody as well. After having not seen or heard from Joshua for the past few days, Maureen was ecstatic to see her husband return and the couple staked out a corner to talk about something in secret. Elise was helping Laura into a seat when she saw Jeanie sighing. Upon sensing that Jeanie

actually saw through her gestures and grew even more worried. As she approached the older woman, Elise said gently, “Mrs. Anderson, you know about my being adopted by the Sinclairs, and that I’m not biologically related to my grandparents, but that doesn’t change the fact that our bond is real. If