Chapter 12 Chapter 12: She grabbed Effie’s coat and wrapped the burning child in it. She scooped Effie up into her arms. Effie was five, but she was light—too light—her growth stunted by years of stress and illness. Isolde kicked the door open and ran down the hallway. The elevator
Chapter 11 Chapter 11: A whimper sliced through the stale air of the hotel room. It was a small sound, fragile. Isolde was awake before her eyes even opened. The maternal instinct honed over five years of sleepless nights needed only the distress of her child. She sat up. “Effie?”
Chapter 10 Chapter 10: Isolde spent the rest of the day in the hotel room, her laptop screen glowing. She was updating her resume, but not as Isolde Carson. She created a new encrypted portfolio under the alias “Sophia.” She uploaded the redacted files she still had on her cloud
Chapter 9 Chapter 9: “Coffee,” Arland said, steering her toward the cafe. “My treat. Since you just insulted my lead engineer’s work in three seconds p> Isolde sat in the corner booth. She felt exposed. “So,” Arland said, leaning back. “The great Valkyrie. Hiding in plain sight as… what? A
Chapter 8 Chapter 8: Isolde decided to keep Effie in her current private school for the last two weeks of the term—she had already paid the tuition for the year from her personal account months ago. She wouldn’t let Grayson’s money go to waste. They arrived at the iron gates
Chapter 7 Chapter 7: Morning sunlight hit the cheap polyester curtains of the hotel room, turning the beige walls a sickly yellow. Isolde woke with a gasp, her hand instinctively reaching for the baby monitor that used to sit on her nightstand. Her hand hit air. Panic flared—Effie is gone,
Chapter 6 Chapter 6: The Toyota smelled of stale pine air freshener and old cigarettes. To Isolde, it smelled like freedom. She watched the Manhattan skyline recede through the window. She wasn’t looking at the buildings; she was looking at the timeline in her head. One year. She had one
Chapter 5 Chapter 5: Grayson chased her into the marble foyer. The heavy doors swung shut, muffling the sounds of the stunned party guests. “You are insane!” Grayson yelled, his voice echoing off the high ceilings. He grabbed her arm again, spinning her around. “You just humiliated me in front
Chapter 4 Chapter 4: The silence in the ballroom was heavy, thick with the kind of tension that makes rich people nervous. Grayson stared at his own hand, flexing the fingers Isolde had just twisted. His face was flushing a deep, angry red. “You are drunk,” he accused, stepping forward
Chapter 3 Chapter 3: The first thing Isolde felt was weight. A crushing, suffocating weight on her chest. She gasped, her body jerking violently as air rushed into her lungs. Her eyes snapped open. She wasn’t in the guest bedroom. She was standing up. Disorientation slammed into her. The smell
Chapter 2 Chapter 2: The funeral was small. Pathetic, really. Three days later, a steady drizzle wept over the private cemetery in Queens. There was no press, no Lancaster associates. Just Isolde, the priest, and two members of the household staff who had liked Effie enough to show up. Grayson
Chapter 1 Chapter 1: Isolde sat in the dark, listening to the silence of a house that no longer held her daughter’s heartbeat. She just gripped Effie’s hand. It was so cold. Effie was only five. Five-year-olds were supposed to be warm, sticky with juice. They weren’t supposed to be
Chapter 172 Chapter 170 Leo gradually calmed down. “Looks like you and your brothers will have to transfer your shares to me for the time being p> That major shareholder had quite a following within the company. Only by holding more shares than him could they stay in control of
Chapter 171 Chapter 169 Chapter 169 Kevin was taken aback. ‘Did Dad forget about Mom? Kevin thought to himself. He still remembered her–the gentle, patient, and strong woman who had always been there for them. Suddenly, it hit him just how long it had been since he’d thought about her.
Chapter 170 Chapter 168 Honestly. I have no idea how to tell her about this. She’ll probably reach out to you guys instead. So you deal with it p> The only got involved because the Hammond brothers asked for his help, and now Alicia’s got a bone to pick with
Chapter 169 Chapter 167 Nicole had always been dead set on landing the Delaney Group endorsement. Her agent had already worked out the deal with the Delaney Group, and all that was left was to sign the contract. Nicole was baffled–What could have made Collin suddenly change his mind?‘ she
Chapter 168 Back then, the Delaney Group and Nicole’s agent were still working out the endorsement deal behind closed doors, so Alicia was totally in the dark about it. But when the official announcement dropped and Nicole was named the face of the brand, it made Alicia sick–and that’s when
Chapter 167 Chapter 165 Alicia shook her head at him. “We have nothing to talk about. There’s no need to go somewhere else,” she said. A $5 vouchers After a moment’s thought, she added, “If you’re here for the Hammond Group shares, don’t bother. I’ve already sold them p> In
Chapter 166 Chapter 164 “You’ll need to invite someone else to fill his spot p> Thanks to the first episode of the live variety show, Alicia finally got rid of her bad rep as a deadweight. 256 vouchers The whole identity controversy was also cleared up after the Hammond family
Chapter 165 Chapter 163 Inside the private room. Alicia had driven over to pick up Jason, and the two of them arrived together. Patrick couldn’t help but be surprised when he saw Alicia pushing Jason’s wheelchair into the room. He really hadn’t expected their relationship to have become this comfortable