Chapter 4: The Devil's Price

I walked past Marcy's outstretched hand and down the stairs.

"Diana, wait!" she called. "The doctor's only coming to help!"

I didn't turn around.

In the old life I had stood on those stairs and let her take my arm.

In the parking lot I sat behind the wheel and made myself breathe.

Bryson had the foundation.

Marcy had the doctor.

Between them they had the one thing they needed most, which was every person on that floor believing I was unwell.

I needed someone they couldn't talk around.

There was only one man in Ashville the whole Lasker family went quiet around.

I started the car and drove to the river.

The Rooke boathouse was a long gray building on the water, a hotel once, with a brass sign nobody had polished in years.

Two men stood at the door in dark coats.

They watched me cross the gravel and said nothing.

"I'm here to see Elias Rooke," I said.

"He doesn't see people," the taller one said.

"Tell him Diana Pellam."

The man looked at me a moment, then pushed the door open and stepped aside.

"He said to send you up."

I stopped on the threshold.

"He said that? Just now?"

"Top of the stairs, Miss Pellam."

I climbed.

The upstairs room ran the length of the building, with windows on the river and a desk covered in plain folders.

Elias Rooke stood at one window with his back to me.

He was in shirtsleeves, and the scar through his eyebrow showed when he turned.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Reborn To The Day I Chose My Nemesis from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.