How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

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It felt as if he'd been gutted, left with nothing but an empty shell.

A long, heavy silence settled between them.

Lucinda was the first to break it. "Can we talk?"

Jarrod's eyes were icy. "Go ahead."

Lucinda led him to a quiet alcove, then looked up at him. "Your grandmother's worried sick-she's been calling, but you didn't pick up. I managed to calm her down and keep her from coming over to make a scene."

After all, it was supposed to be a birthday celebration.

Not that it hadn't already descended into chaos.

"How's Elodie doing now?" Lucinda glanced toward the patient rooms, her expression conflicted.

She'd never really approved of Elodie before, but she'd never imagined someone so young would fall seriously ill.

control for now." Jarrod pinched the bridge of his

"What exactly is the diagnosis? Uterine cancer? How serious is

need surgery. The prognosis is uncertain." Jarrod

her lips before she could stop herself. "Will this affect her

to

lips curled into a faint, mocking smile. "What do

tone confirmed Lucinda's

Given your status and position, do you really think it's practical to never have children? And especially not by choice-because you're forced into it. You're at the helm of the Silverstein Group, with the second branch of the family circling like vultures. If you don't have an heir, it's

in ordinary families, few

more so for a

just being pragmatic-pointing

she couldn't accept Jarrod

I'll lose everything one day and that your life as the lady of the house will suffer, I can offer you a solution," Jarrod said, his voice cold and flat. "You can leave the Silverstein family now, go back to the Howards. Who knows, maybe you'll end up with a bigger

face flushed at the

willing to give up anything for her, and maybe that's true-for a while. But ten years from now, twenty years from now, you'll change. You'll start to resent her and

regret

foundation of stability, comfort, and security. Without that, it's just a