How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

Lily was never one to mince words. With an indignant huff, she said, "So you get jealous and start arguing with me, but you don't seem to care about your own fiancé sitting next to another woman?"

The room fell silent-her comment landing like a sucker punch.

Esmeralda froze, her expression turning to stone.

It only dawned on Lily a moment later how reckless she'd been. Her mouth always seemed to outrun her brain. She glanced between Elodie and Esmeralda, wide- eyed and sheepish. "Wait, I didn't mean it like that..."

She'd just been watching the drama unfold from the sidelines and picked up on a few clues. When that woman-Lucy, was it?-had mentioned "fiancé," Lily had quickly pieced it together.

Even Alexander, who'd stayed silent on the subject the whole time, faltered for a moment, his gaze settling on Esmeralda.

Thankfully, Esmeralda was a master at feigning composure, even if she was mediocre at everything else. She waved off the comment. "It's nothing."

Elodie pressed her lips together, glancing silently at the pair across from her. After that, everyone shifted their focus to a technical discussion about the airplane's crew performance and future directions, which lasted nearly half an hour. Conversation flowed freely, but no one brought up personal relationships again.

Partway through, the door opened.

tailored suit. He looked every inch the polished professional, though no one would have guessed he was still

turned to look at

After locking gazes, he

made his way

know all the details, only that Jarrod was Elodie's

shot her a

down, Elodie looked at him, puzzled. "What are

entire research

few people around them let out quiet

Silverstein-they'd all heard of him. For a meeting this informal, he certainly

ve!

but here he

passed through the group as they glanced at Elodie. Of course he was

at Jarrod's resilience. Most people would have been bedridden for weeks after what he'd been through, but he didn't seem to let anything

too, knew of Jarrod. Even though the Mercer family lived alt the way in Brightshore, her relatives