Larissa Judson and Haskell Palmer novel Chapter 231

Finley took the bag and meticulously inspected its contents: tissues, perfume, a compact mirror, lipstick. In a small side pocket were a few credit cards and a driver’s license. There was also a small notepad.

He picked it up and began to read through Honora’s recent notes.

[The real Miss Judson is coming home. I hope she can accept me. All I want is to stay with Mom, Dad, and my brothers.]

[I think I made the real Miss Judson angry. She even chose Neville and Sapphira as her parents. What should I do? Mom, Dad, and Leopold must be in such a difficult position.]

[I made her angry again. She slapped me, and Leopold got kicked trying to defend me. She’s gone too far.]

[Finley’s leg is injured. I don’t know what happened.]

[At the welcome party, I don’t want to disappoint Mom, Dad, Finley, and Leopold.]

[I think I disappointed them anyway.]

[Finley seems troubled lately. I wish I could help him.]

[I asked a friend, and he actually knows Field of Lari! I’m so glad I can finally help Finley.]

[Leopold was in a car accident and is in a coma. How could this happen?]

[Finley told me Larissa is Field of Lari. I failed to help him again.]

[Please wake up soon, Leopold. I don’t think I can hold on much longer. You wouldn’t have been in that accident if you weren’t trying to stand up for me.]

[I would give half my life to see Leopold wake up.]

[Finley has been looking at me strangely. Does he blame me too? For being so useless.]

Meanwhile, in Leopold’s hospital room.

Honora sat by Leopold’s bed, scrolling through the latest designer bag releases on her phone.

“I wonder which one Finley will buy me after he reads all those heartfelt things I wrote just for him?” she mused aloud. “This one… no, not expensive enough, and not a limited edition… It must be this one…”

She had noticed Finley’s suspicion when he visited the other night. When he mentioned her bag again in the hospital today, she knew what she had to do. She had made sure not to hide the miniature syringe in her lipstick case and had left the notepad for him to find. Those words would surely move him enough to give her anything she wanted.

What she wanted was his guilt. It would make him even more devoted to her, more willing to do whatever she asked.

Her eyes glazed over from staring at the screen. She put down her phone and looked at Leopold.

“Honestly, Leopold, both of you are so foolish, so easily manipulated. Compared to Solon and Haskell, you two were far too easy to win over.”