CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Brigitte

SHE LOOKS AT the URL Hannah's written on a scrap of paper, types it into her search engine, and begins to read.

The more she reads, the more her anger flares.

She reads for almost an hour before slamming the lid of her laptop closed. "That little, traitorous . . ." She picks up the phone and presses the intercom to the kitchen. "Hannah, come back to my office. Now!"

She paces in front of her desk while she waits for Hannah. "What is taking her so long?"

When Hannah taps on her door, she opens it and pulls Hannah inside. "I want everything. I want her e-mails. I want every document on her computer. Do you understand? And I want it now!"

"But Madame—"

"No buts, Hannah. If you want to keep your job, you'll deliver what I need."

"Fine, Madame. I will hire someone. I don't have the knowledge. As I told you, I got this information because she left her computer on while she slept. If I hadn't taken her coffee upstairs, and—"

"Do whatever it takes, and do it now!"

"Yes, Madame."

"Go!"

After Hannah's gone, she returns to her laptop and rereads some of her posts. But the posts, she suspects, are just the beginning of her hidden life. She googles www.iluminar.me, searching for . . . anything. She scans the list of comments and other links that come up, including a link to Urbanity. The magazine? She clicks on the link and reads of the contest Urbanity's holding to unveil the identity of the blogger who calls herself Lightseeker.

Again, she slams the laptop shut. Her heels wear a path in the carpet in front of her desk as she rehearses what she'll say to Jenna. "Oh, no, you don't! You will not make a mockery of my name! Isn't it enough that I must endure the humiliation of your infertility, along with the shame of that hideous scar across your face?"

She spits the words as if Jenna were standing in front of her.

But then something occurs to her and she quiets. Of course Jenna won't make a mockery of her name. She can see to that. Just as she's always seen to things with Jenna. She returns to her desk and reaches for a notepad. She will make a plan. Wait for complete access to Jenna's computer. Wait to see what else reveals itself.

No, she won't confront Jenna. Not yet.

She will wait.

She thinks again of Azul—and smiles. Ah yes, Jenna will do as she instructs. There is no doubt. She's seen to that. She will reveal all to Jenna, when the time is right.

And she will know when the time is exactly right.

Until then, a couple of days away will be best. She'll go to the valley, give Jenna a little space, freedom to roam as she's prone to do, and Hannah some time to complete her task.