How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

Elodie hadn't been looking well lately.

She'd noticed it herself the last time-now, she'd fainted again.

Did Jarrod... know about any of this?

Elodie didn't sleep a wink that night.

When morning came, she felt drained, her nerves frayed. The looming issue with the gallery hung over her like a guillotine, impossible to ignore. She couldn't shake the feeling that things weren't over yet.

After turning it over in her mind, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

She called Jarrod, but whatever he was doing, he didn't pick up. Or maybe-he just didn't want to.

Either way, Elodie no longer cared about the why.

She headed straight for The Silverstein Group.

She'd worked there for three years-long enough that the receptionist recognized her. Elodie phoned Keith in the executive office; his voice was as chilly as ever. "Mr. Silverstein is busy, Ms. Thorne. You'll have to wait."

Elodie made her way upstairs and settled into the lounge.

her in passing but didn't bother with a greeting, just turned and

the other assistants who knew Elodie well. In the past, she'd made a point to befriend them—lunches, coffee breaks, a little

genuinely pleased to see her, and after some small talk, one of them said, "You might be waiting a while, Elodie.

another chimed in with a wink. "More like the apple of his eye." Elodie didn't need to ask-she knew they

in meetings, too swamped with work to see her. He was with

of The Silverstein Group like she owns the place. No restrictions, no appointments-Mr. Silverstein's door is always open to her. I even heard..." "Yesterday, when Ms. Fielding left his office, her lipstick was totally

god—are we talking about some

listened numbly, feeling like a spectator in someone else's

appointments and wait her

out, untouchable. Everyone else cleared the

of tea, then hurried off,

and went from the executive suite, but

steadying breath, Elodie realized she couldn't just sit here forever. She spotted Keith rounding the corner

Jarrod still

glanced at her, a stack of files in hand, and gave a crooked smile. "You're

supposed to

left with Ms. Fielding for lunch over

was no mistaking the cool calculation

he deliberately kept Jarrod in the dark about her being here? Or