2026-11-02 23:04:06
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Chapter 838
In the Tiffany yard, under every light in the house, nobody moved. Even the ambulance men had frozen with Preston's stretcher halfway up the steps."He isn't?" The Baroness said it the way she named a price she would not pay. "Since when do you tell me what happens in my house?""Since tonight, Grandmother."Serena crossed the stones and stood beside Alex. She did not look at him. She held the leather folder in both hands, tight enough to bend it."Can we do this inside? Or do you want the neighbours to hear it too?"The Baroness's eyes cut across the street. The neighbours were already out on their steps, craning their necks, drawn by the ambulance lights. By morning, the Tiffany house would be the joke of the whole town.She pivoted hard on her cane and marched inside. The family fell in behind her, the way they always did.In the long dining room, the dinner candles had burned down to stubs.The Baroness took the head of the table. Pauline stood at her shoulder with her little whit
Chapter 837
In the Diamond Room, the great window lay in pieces across the table, and the bright noon light came pouring through the hole with the cold wind off the harbour, salt and broken glass.Nora had both hands in Alex's old jacket. She could feel him breathing, slow and easy."Get the girl," one of the men said.The man with the gun stepped over the glass, the sun flashing on the barrel. He looked at Alex's face, then past his shoulder at Nora's white coat."There you are, Miss Hale," the man said, almost kindly. "Come out now. Nobody wants to spoil that pretty face. Your father pays, you go home. Simple.""I'm not going anywhere with you," Nora said. "My father won't pay a cent to men like you.""Everybody's father pays," said the man. "Ten million, and you're home for supper. Twenty if you scream.""I'll pay you myself." Her voice cracked. "My bag. It's on the table. Take it. Take my cards. Take my watch. Just go.""Hear that, boys? She's bargaining." Somebody laughed behind him. "Cards
Chapter 836
Two men pinned Preston's right hand flat on the table."The gold room costs ten thousand," Bram said. "This room costs a hundred thousand. You eat a hundred-thousand dinner on a ten-thousand ticket? You came here to rob us?""No! Please! I'll pay for all of it!"Bram brought the stick down.The crack was louder than the scream. "My hand! My hand!" Preston slid to the marble, his good trousers dark and wet.Nora ran round the table and pressed in behind Alex, both hands in his old jacket."Are they allowed to do that?" she whispered. "Are they allowed to kill people here?""No one will touch you while I'm here," said Alex.He had a bread roll in his hand. Nora almost laughed. But her fingers stayed in his jacket.Bram turned to the count. "And you. My man says you told everyone they knew a count when they saw one."Count Charles stood up very straight, all ten rings shaking. "Do you know who I am? I am Count Charles of the capital! One call from me, and this whole house…""Count of wha
Chapter 835
The Diamond Room was one long black table, twelve chairs and a wall of glass over the harbour. The last of the sun lay red on the water below.Preston put Nora at the head of the table, the count on her right and himself on her left. Patricia sat beside her count.Alex took the chair in the corner, next to the bread basket.The food came without anyone ordering it. Lobster on ice.Oysters in a silver bowl. A whole fish baked in salt, cracked open at the table, so the smell of lemon and the sea came up into the room.Then a bottle of wine so old that its label had gone brown.Count Charles turned the bottle to read it, and his moustache went very still."Preston," he said quietly. "What did your grandmother pay for the room?""Ten thousand." Preston leaned back. "Why?""This bottle alone costs more than your whole room."Preston's face slipped. He looked at the lobster. He looked at the door. "They… they must know who I am. I am a hero for people around here. A savior."Nora lifted h
Chapter 834
"The same house! Did you hear that? The idiot has a table at the Grand!" He wiped his eyes. "You can't afford the bread there, boy. You can't afford the smell of the bread."Across the cobbled yard, Patricia laughed behind her sunglasses. Even Count Charles laughed, high and thin, like a teacup knocking a saucer."A table at the Grand," the count said. "Do you know, I tried to book there myself once, from the capital. They told me to call back next year.""I thought you knew it well," said Alex.The count's ears went pink. "Know it, yes. Eaten there, no. One doesn't push.""And which room did you book, cousin?" Patricia asked sweetly. "The one by the kitchen? The broom cupboard?"Alex thought about it, very seriously."The lady said the Diamond Room."Preston stopped laughing. Then he started again, louder."The Diamond Room! Do you know who eats in the Diamond Room? Not ten people on this coast have ever sat in it. The governor asked once and didn't get in! Grandmother couldn't get i
Chapter 833
Serena still had the jade on in the morning.She sat on the end of Alex's narrow bed in the garage wing, dressed for work, and touched it twice while she put on her shoes. She said nothing about the roof, or about what Mark Ellis had whispered in her ear.The garage wing smelled of warm toast and old dog, and he was busy with the toast.Then her phone rang, and her whole face changed."Nora? Nora Hale? Is that really you?" She listened, and laughed out loud. "You're joking. Here? Today?"Alex looked up. He had not heard his wife laugh like that in a long time."I can't believe it. Nora, my best friend, is coming here.""Nora?" Alex asked."Nora was my best friend at school, and we worked together at a perfume company in the capital. Before the tower. Before everything." She stopped for a moment. "Her family are the Hales. A big old family. Big money. Hotels, restaurants, half the capital's shops.""Why would a Hale come to Westmere?" Alex asked."Family business." Serena lowered her v
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Reader Comments
i hope Alex will now reveal himself a little.
the next chapter will be very interesting, can't wait.
You have to publish the book at once and let us read it. I don't understand this kind of book publishing