CHAPTER 10: Elise Learns the Price of Silence

Elise finally stepped out of the doorway when an officer asked for her name.
Her heels clicked against the wet stone. She kept her chin high, but panic had softened the sharp line of her mouth.
'I was in the downstairs salon,' she said. 'I heard shouting, then she fell.'
Nora opened her eyes on the stretcher.
Maya noticed.
'Is that true?' Maya asked her.
Nora moved one finger once. No.
Elise swallowed.
August's security director opened the locked case and removed a tablet. He did not show the screen, but his expression changed as the exterior footage loaded.
'There is movement on the balcony before the fall,' he said. 'Three people visible through the glass reflection.'
Elise's face lost color.
Dorian looked at her then, not with love, not with concern, but with warning.
For the first time, Elise understood she had never been chosen. She had been useful.