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“II just need to know the truth—to understand” Annabelle couldn’t believe she was staring at theabout the ht out and admitted it “Why did she have to die?”

Thethe weight of the world “Since I’ back, I suppose I can tell you My wifeshe was sick She needed to be flown to the United States for treatot an offer For soet thefor her Sheshe was my world”

Annabelle helplessly stared at the un continued to shake And his finger reut And worst yet, she’d dragged Grayson into this retted her rash decision to rush out here without security

There had to be a way out of this Maybe if she kept the er, a plan would co?”

“Yourto tell the king, and I just couldn’t let her ruin everything”

And then awith her in the South Shore piazza the evening before she died, wasn’t it?”

He nodded “I was trying to find out how much she knew I needed to know if she suspected , but then the next day we ain She said she’d intercepted a note to me—”

“Your na to the palace, she’d only ever heard the o

“Yes, it is” His arun In the next breath, he lifted it again “YourThat’s when I pulled out this gun She reached for it We struggled andand it went off There was nothing I could do for the princess The shot hit her in the chest Sheshe died before she hit the ground”

Annabelle’s heart jumped into her throat as she envisioned herthe king and this land that she loved She was a hero and no one knew until now

Annabelle sed hard “Whatwhat happened next?”

“My wifeshe died before I could get the data to sell”

“And what’s on this thumb drive?”

“Instructions on where to deliver the data And how I’d get my payments”

“So you never e?”