Chapter 2052

After Cecilia left the detention wing, Norman fell into step just behind her, his briefcase clutched like a shield.

"Could you draft a settlement agreement? I want the court to consider a light sentence for Scorpius."

"Of course," Norman replied with a single, solemn nod.

They slid into the back seat of the sedan, doors thudding shut against the gray afternoon.

Cecilia leaned back, eyelids sliding down as fatigue pooled behind her eyes and darkness swirled, merciful and silent.

Time blurred until her phone shrilled. She jerked awake, glanced at the screen, and saw it was the director of the psychiatric hospital calling.

"Hello? What is it?"

"Ms. Smith, the patient named Stella Ross insists on seeing you. How would you like us to proceed?"

Cecilia's lips curved, the smile cold enough to frost glass.

"Still pretending she's unstable, is she?"

"She seems far more lucid now-probably dropped the act," the director answered.

"Understood."

She had assumed Stella could keep the charade alive indefinitely. Apparently, the walls of a psychiatric ward were rougher than the fantasy she'd woven for herself.

partition. "Driver, to the


the eye

years of tangled grudges, Stella herself meant little to her now-hardly more than a shadow on

forgotten the harm

her reckoning. Perhaps Stella's turn had

the psychiatric hospital, the air smelled of disinfectant and

a vinyl couch, bandages and bruises mottling every inch of exposed

Cecilia arrived yet?" Stella asked, voice shaking so hard each syllable barely

"Ms. Smith said she is on her

the ward like a pebble tossed

in that single title, and jealousy flared so hot it

bitter laugh.

thriving now, isn't she?"

muttered. s


though someone had blown out the candle behind them. You thought playing insane would buy you time, a quiet hideaway. Instead, every hour in this place has been a slow, exquisite torture.

spoke under his breath. "So she

briskly. "Exactly. She never once seemed like a true

hurried up the corridor. "Director-Ms. Smith

"Understood."

strode off to greet

a friend of Zachary-the director's immediate

the

sleek sedan that

stepped out, business heels clicking on

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