The words landed like a guillotine blade, and whatever feeble hope had flickered behind Gareth Quinn's eyes guttered out in an instant.
His whole body seized. The color drained from his face so completely that he might have aged two decades in the span of a single breath. His lips parted, but no sound came out, only a faint, rattling wheeze that seemed to leak from somewhere deep in his chest. For a moment he swayed where he sat, his shoulders rolling forward as though his spine had simply surrendered its duty, and then he slumped sideways into the sofa cushions like a puppet whose strings had been cut all at once.
The sharp, acrid stench of urine filled the room almost immediately.
Ambrose didn't bother hiding his reaction. He lifted one hand and waved it lazily in front of his nose, h
