Chapter 35

She had caught him several times looking at her plight with a stoic delight, which had the effect of making her feel sick. As she saw him lean down to kiss his current admirer quickly, she thought bitterly that Michael was proving to be a master at torturing people in every way possible. Every single thing that he said to her was intended to be hurtful, and every single glance that he gave her was scornful.

He was wringing his pound of flesh out of her with a seeming lack of effort, and Estel had not yet mustered the willpower to deny him the gratification he was seeking. In due course, she will. She came to the awareness that despite the cloud of misery she was moving through these days, she acquired hope as a result of the revelation. It was the only thing that had allowed her to make it through this incapacitating event. She could not have done it without it. But she was not at that place yet, and she glanced down at her watch with depressing melancholy to see that it would be at l