How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

"That last time was an accident. You know how cunning Jarrod is-he's not easy to catch off guard. But now... he's finally down. This is the only real chance we'll get to bring him down, and I doubt Mr. Aldridge would want to waste it."

"What are you saying?"

"Jarrod's had an accident. He's in the ICU as we speak. I can give you a lead: The Silverstein Group is in talks with the government over a huge upcoming project- something the board considers critical for the next few years. They can't afford a single misstep. I get what I want, Jarrod loses his seat, and your problem will be nothing."

Sprague laid his cards on the table.

Watts fell silent, weighing his options.

He didn't know the specifics of Jarrod's condition.

But for someone as careful as Jarrod, what could have possibly landed him in the ICU?

Suddenly, Watts asked, "What about Elodie? Was she involved too?"

Sprague sounded surprised. "How did you know? Yeah, she was with him. She got hurt as well."

Silence settled in again.

It was hard to say how long it lasted.

When Watts finally spoke, he steered clear of the subject of Elodie, lowering his voice. "Send me everything you have. This time, I don't intend to fail."

"Of course."

Elodie sat outside the hospital room for a long while, waiting and watching for any sign that Jarrod might wake up.

Ivan watched her, too-watched as she refused to leave, as she stubbornly kept vigil at the door.

his shoulders, and approached her. "Are you

now she was still

she was, running

tell if the ache in his chest was heartbreak

you?" Ivan's voice was

side, all those years. How could she just give her heart to someone

looked at him, her expression calm. "Just because we grew up together, does that mean I owe you something? I've repaid every debt I ever had

finally understood what it means to truly

like a punch

matter how ugly things

in the past, Elodie had neve

Janovent

she had real

only one still living in the past. I don't want

clenched. He looked completely lost, as

his

could see it now: Elodie didn't feel a thing

really was losing

he'd caused since getting out of prison-what a joke

he'd known his whole life, the one he thought would always wait for him, was really

he'd been the one to drive her

didn't say

turned

went to the

face with cold water, trying to clear

were a tangled