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But the stars hadn’t been the only witness

Marie-Laure sighed heavily, angrily

"I knew then that I had been lied to, that I had been betrayed even worse than I’d thought It should have been ht, not you I aht you were dead You can’t blame him"

"He killed me," Marie-Laure said, her voice so flinty with bitterness Nora could swear she saw sparks co off her words

"You killed yourself You ran away"

"I had no choice I loved my brother I wanted him to be happy I was in the way of that happiness"

"You didn’t want hie annulled or gotten divorced and gone back to France or even stayed married, taken the money and run You had a thousand options that would have let Søren and Kingsley be together, be happy You took the one option guaranteed to break thesley because hethe one Søren was in love with, not you Don’t act like you faked your death for some noble purpose You wanted to destroy their relationship bythem think they killed you"

"I did destroy their relationship," Marie-Laure said with pride There it was Nora saw it The real oing to deny it She’d faked her death to punish Kingsley and Søren for daring to love each other "I knohat happened Kingsley quit school and joined the French Foreign Legion right after I died My husband went to Ro for the priesthood That kiss of theirs, the one I witnessed, it was their final kiss"

And Marie-Laure grinned so wildly Nora wanted to rip it off her face with her fingernails And she’d do it, too, but not with her hands--she had a much better weapon at her disposal

"You didn’t destroy their relationship, though, despite a very good effort on your part"

"Don’t lie to me I know my husband I read your file You’re the only person he’s been with sexually since becosley writes the files and he’s a very unreliable narrator He decides what goes in, what stays out"

Marie-Laure narrowed her eyes at Nora, and despite the fear in her heart, Nora refused to look away

"What do you mean I didn’t destroy thee she needed She searched for it and she found it She gave Marie-Laure a sht, if you want it, I’ll have one hell of a bedtih the dark all the way to Elizabeth’s house in New Hampshire He drove alone and took no calls He needed the cohts to plan his next step Søren had forced a proet Nora out of the house if Kingsley swore he would kill no one in the process He knew Søren couldn’t care less if Marie-Laure’s compatriots ended up with their brains on the carpet But the priest didn’t want hisley had seen battlefields and bloodshed of the kind Søren had never even drea it No room for sentimentality on a battlefield, not if Søren wanted Nora back

By dawn Kingsley arrived at the house and parked the car in the woods off the road He slipped through the trees, a high-powered rifle strapped to his back Would the children of his kingdoency- and Victorian-era suits and uish sed into jeans, a black T-shirt, pulled his hair back into a low ponytail to keep it out of his face He left his shoes in the car, far preferring the sensitivity and silence of bare feet And instead of a sri down behind thick branches, he pulled out a spyglass and studied the s Laila had said she and Nora were held in the library With all the curtains closed he couldn’t see anything, not even the hint of ? She had to know taking Nora was siet her revenge against them and live to enjoy her victory? No, of course she didn’t, and that’s what scared hia to lose If she wanted to die, planned to die, there would be no stopping her frorave

If he tried to get Nora out and Marie-Laure caught hihts with his Juliette, no ain And the last tiht over his insistence she leave hirateful for what seeive to have another chance to look in her eyes and tell her howand no one, a s is atrocious"

If only he could tell her how sorry he was that it had come to this His Juliette, his Jules, his Jewel He’d dreamed all his life that he would find someone like her, soe him for what he was, she loved his and for that reason alone he’d sent her away A week ago she accused hiet the better of him But still, she submitted to his wishes and had flown to Haiti where she still had family, where she could disappear, blend in and be safe Now he thanked God he’d had the foresight to send her away If Marie-Laure had stolen Søren’shis, as well Sister or not, if Marie-Laure had laid a hand on his Juliette, his lover, his property, his