Chapter 190
~ Octavia ~
The city moved around me in a frantic, disjointed blur, but inside the limo, everything felt paralyzed. We drove through the dark arteries of Manhattan, the streetlights outside streaking into long, ghost-like ribbons of white and gold. I barely noticed the opulence of the interior or the hum of the engine; my mind was still trapped in that boardroom, replaying a single, chilling phrase.
"How is Frederick?"
Dorian Harrington hadn't asked with the voice of a concerned friend. It was the tone of a man checking the status of a project. The more I deconstructed it, the less it felt like a coincidence. Frederick's condition was a state secret. Franklin had insured that. Aside from the immediate family, the medical team, and the most trusted household staff like Clarence, no one knew the depth of the Senior Flemington's trauma. Yet Dorian had spoken of it with such ease, as if he had been the one to tuck Frederick into that hospital bed himself.
