The afternoon sunlight flooded through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Dorothea lay stomach-down on the plush carpet, lost in her drawings, while Avery sat on the sofa with her laptop balanced on her knees.
On the screen was Julian's medical log for the day.
In the attached photo, Julian propped himself up against a stack of pillows, his complexion looking marginally better than it had the previous week. Avery zoomed in on the image, meticulously verifying that the IV port on his wrist had been rotated to a new vein, and that the numbers flickering on the monitor behind him had changed from yesterday's metrics. Only then did she breathe a small sigh of relief and close the file.
Dominic had honored their deal. Julian was safe.
Leaning back against the cushions, she finally exhaled a brea
