Chapter 408

• Mary looked utterly drained when she arrived at the estate. I handed her a warm meal and a hot drink, and she practically devoured two large bowls of stew then shyly asked if she could have another.
• I placed a thick envelope on the table alongside the food. Inside were ten thousand silver coins in crisp bills. Her eyes went wide, disbelief and gratitude flooding her face. She had been struggling for two days to raise barely seven hundred coins.
• Mary’s mouth opened, but no words came out just a tremble of emotion. That’s when Helen, ever the matriarch, stepped in from the side and said firmly, “Get the safe box. Give her twenty thousand silver coins.”