Chapter 2 - What They Harvested
Adeline was shaking so badly she could barely get the file out of her bag.
"They needed a match," she said. "A donor. That's the only reason they adopted me."
Sebastian turned around slowly. "Say that again."
"I was seven." Her voice cracked in half. "Vivienne was dying. Her kidneys were shutting down. Ronald found me through an agency — not because he wanted another daughter. Because my tissue type lined up with hers."
The room went dead quiet.
"They operated on me at eight. Then again at eleven." She flattened her hand against her side, over the worst of it. "Ronald signed every consent form himself. He told me each time that it was to save my life. I was nineteen before I understood what they'd actually done."
Sebastian's jaw was tight enough to ache. "And your body—"
"Three surgeries. Two organs." She lifted her eyes to his and held them. "Vivienne is downstairs right now, healthy, dancing in a designer gown, because of what they took out of me and put into her."
Sebastian started for the door.
"Sebastian, don't—" She grabbed for his sleeve.
"They're all still down there," he said, very low. "Ronald. Vivienne. Every one of them. Smiling. Drinking my father's wine. Toasting us."
His hand closed around the door handle.
Then his phone buzzed on the nightstand. He glanced at the screen and stopped.
It was a text from Nell, his stepmother.
May you like
"Sebastian. Stop. There is something about that girl you still don't know. Do NOT go after Ronald tonight. Call me right now."
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