When They Beg, I Rise!

"Did you swing by the hospital to check on Lucian?"

"Sort of. I'm gonna grab a change of clothes."

Lemira turned and headed back to her bedroom, hoping to shake off the day's events.

Meanwhile, Orion was waiting outside when Lemira's phone began to ring.

Peering at the caller ID, he saw it was Matthew and answered, "I bet you're home by now. Got something pretty big to talk about."

"What's up?" Orion asked, only to be met with silence on the other end.

Matthew, sweating bullets, blurted out, "Why are you answering her phone?"

"Disappointed? What's so important? Go on."

Orion narrowed his eyes, suspicious of Matthew's late call.

What could Matthew possibly want to talk to Lemira about that was so urgent?

"Uh, I just wanted to... compliment you, yeah. My phone's about to die, gotta run." Matthew hung up, his nerves shot.

He thought, "I need to lay low for a while. This could spell trouble."

the disconnected call, sensed Matthew wasn't intending to praise

changed and visibly calmer, "Thanks for being

Orion seemed to rush to her

studied her closely,

seen Evelina's true colors. He's treading lightly around me now. He won't harm me."

omission, paused before speaking, "Can't

My mind's shielding me by blanking out that

had never dwelled on

truth, to find out if the driver really was

pry further, "It's late. Rest up and call

"Will do."

Lemira slumped

Caspian, whose moods were unpredictable, having been involved with the

to make it in showbiz with his good looks, Caspian was still mingling with

leveraging his charm,

was tipped for it again, thanks to a blockbuster script and a hit TV series, both penned by

en novelxo

about to let

headed to the

swnovel.ne

noticed a crowd, including