How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

Jarrod's grip on his phone tightened instinctively.

His gaze was icy, and a cool, mocking smile curved at his lips. "Mr. Aldridge, you really do have your hands in everything, don't you?"

Of course Watts heard the threat in Jarrod's tone he wasn't exactly being subtle. With leverage like this, why not use it?

"Mr. Silverstein, you have to understand-business is about results. The process

is never clean for any of us. Besides, you're my senior in this game."

None of this had been part of the plan.

To be honest, when he first heard about it, anger had flared in him.

He couldn't even say exactly why.

After all, it had nothing to do with him-at least, that's what he told himself.

But then he remembered how they'd tried to get rid of that child, how the child's survival had become a bond between Elodie and Jarrod that refused to break. That silent fury swept over him all over again.

Still, he kept his cool.

And straightaway, he realized: the child Jarrod had fought so hard to save was, in a way, a hostage.

Jarrod was stuck here, panicked

New York was wide open-a vulnerability

own.

By tomorrow, he'd

was the

whatever he

want Elodie and your...

completely at

that child, Watts understood perfectly well-Elodie and the child meant more to Jarrod than

wasn't lost on

he played the devoted lover.

Shadows flickered across his eyes. "How do I know you won't double-cross me once I give you what you

over everything from Verdania, Watts Still target

overthinking. I'm not interested in anything but my

had other roles

edge of his phone, voice cold and

Watts raised an eyebrow.

his whereabouts once, and yet Jarrod

in person. Nothing gets done without me. If you want it, give me two days-' take care of everything. Then you let them go. And you keep your hands off my child.” There was a trace of fear in Jarrod's voice-he didn't bother to

it