“Ask him about your mother, Claire!” Vivian screamed as the officers violently dragged her backward. “Ask him why your mother really died last year! Ask him about the real reason the monthly payments started! He didn’t fund your marriage, you stupid girl—he bought your mother’s silence! Ask him what’s buried under the foundation of the plaza!”
“Remove her immediately!” Grandpa shouted, his face turning a dangerous shade of crimson, his composure completely breaking for the first time.
The doors swung shut, cutting off Vivian’s final, hysterical laughter.
The room fell into a new, terrifying kind of silence. The ambient noise of the hospital returned, but the air felt ten times colder than before.
Slowly, deliberately, I turned my head to look at my grandfather.
The powerful, untouchable billionaire who had just dismantled my enemies in seconds was standing frozen beside my bed. His hand was trembling against mine. And for the first time in my life, when I looked into his eyes, he couldn’t look back at me. He looked down at the floor.
“Grandpa?” I whispered, the word suddenly feeling heavy, dangerous, and entirely foreign. “What did she mean?”
