Page 91 of Mirror Image

“Welcome to being a Langston,” I said dryly. “Every gift comes with a leash.”

She frowned. “You have seen the trust itself, right? The full document?”

I hesitated. “Not yet. Ken said he didn’t have the original on hand—it’s locked in the safe in the study. He promised I could review it later.”

Sam’s brow furrowed. “And you believed that?”

I sighed. “At the time, yeah. The whole meeting caught me off guard. I thought I was there to sign for the distribution, not to defend myself. They had their lawyer, their folders, their script. I just wanted to get out of that office before I lost it.”

Sam pushed back her chair and stood. “Well, you’re not off guard now.”

I looked up at her, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“You said the trust is locked in the safe here, right? So let’s go look at it.”

“What? Sam, no—”

“Why not? They’re out of town. We’ve got a whole weekend before anyone’s back. You said you wanted to know the truth.” She was already walking toward the study. “Seems to me this is your chance.”

I stared after her, heart thudding with a mix of adrenaline and disbelief.

“Sam—”

She looked back over her shoulder with that familiar crooked grin. “You coming, or you want me to do the breaking and entering solo?”

And just like that, I found myself following her down the hall toward my father’s study, the taste of coffee and guilt bitter in my throat.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Jenn

Sunday evening

It’s after six by the time I return to the VIP floor with a bag of food from Cuba Libre in tow. I’m already thinking through how to coax Sam into eating something—anything—when the empty sitting room stops me cold.

Shannon stands just inside the bedroom doorway, arms folded, expression tightened with something like apology.

“Dr. Flores?” she says softly. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

A ripple of dread curls through me. “Is she all right?”

The nurse exhales. “She’s . . . not here.”

My pulse ticks upward. “Not here meaning what, exactly?”

“She left. She asked me to take her down to the garden for air. Then she sent me inside for a bottle of water. When I came back, the chair was empty.” She hesitates before adding, “Security checked the area, but she wasn’t under a hold. And she didn’t owe a bill. She was free to leave anytime.”

Sam must have been as desperate to get away from this place as I was.

And who could blame her? Who was she trying to get away from with all of us buzzing around her, picking apart her lies, her motives, her life.

Julian. Kellogg. Even me.

Shannon shifts her weight—a subtle, deliberate movement. She’s watching me too closely.

“I knew you . . . back then. When you were a resident? I’m sure you don’t remember me. I was just a newbie nurse—a floater.”

My mind flips through a hundred faces from the past.