---
The meeting with Dr. Vanessa Reed was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, and I spent the entire morning feeling like I was about to walk into a trap.
She was the CEO of Elysian Fields. The architect of the entire operation. The woman who had built an empire on the suffering of others. She had created a system that had destroyed countless lives, and she had done it with a smile on her face and a wellness brand as her shield.
And now she wanted to meet with me. Privately. At the manor.
"I don't trust this," Nicholas said for the fifth time that morning. "She's dangerous, Ruby. She's been running this operation for years. She knows how to manipulate people. She's probably been planning this conversation for weeks."
"I know." I was sitting in the conservatory, trying to calm my nerves by pruning my orchids. My hands were steady, but my heart was racing. "But she reached out to us. She says she wants to talk. She says she wants to end this."
