As soon as the news was passed on, everyone decided to stay at the hospital until they received more information. Kylie called Ethan up and tell him the full story. Of course, once he heard that Khloe had tried to murder their father, he wanted to expose her, but Kylie calmed him down, he saw the wisdom in Kylie's plan. "I suppose we can't prove it anyway," he conceded.

A few hours later, a doctor came out and said that Laurence would make it, and almost everyone sighed in relief. Duncan looked around the room and said, "Since everyone is here to witness this, I am relinquishing the forged will to Kylie. Everyone here should know that if push came to shove, I would be willing to testify in a court of law to the extent that Khloe and Alice are willing to go in order to attain that which is not theirs. Furthermore, it wouldn't surprise me if Khloe was somehow responsible for what has happened tonight."

​​

Hearing this, Khloe's face turned a pale shade of green. She looked at him and Duncan and said, "You are nothing but a fucking Judas!"

Duncan laughed and offered her his hand. "If so, I want my thirty pieces of silver!"

***

The next day Tom gathered up their daily necessities and turned to Dora, who was doing her makeup in the bathroom. He said, "Dora, the discharge procedure is done."

"Did you notify Lord Ethan?" she wondered.

Tom leaned on the door and said, "He will be here soon. In my opinion, though, we should hire a murderer to kill Kylie and just get it over with."

"Shut up!" Dora screamed as she put a perfume bottle into her cosmetic bag. "You know about Lord Ethan's temper. If we hurt Kylie, wherever we went, he would find us and kill us. Is that what you want? Besides, I don't think he actually loves her anyways."

"Well," Tom laughed, "if he doesn't love her, then she is nothing. Really, all we need to do is find out what Ethan hates and blackmail Kylie into doing it. Then Ethan will throw her away like the piece of trash that she is."

Tom stopped smiling and took out a pair of shoes for Dora. He said, "Dora, I just bought these shoes for you. Try them on."

"Why, thank you," Dora replied as she tried the shoes on. She stood up, and just as she began to walk around the room in them, Lord Ethan appeared in the doorway.

"Nice shoes," he said.

"They are very comfortable," Dora replied. "Tom bought them for me."

Tom came around the corner to say hi. Ethan looked Tom in the eyes and said, "You'd better take good care of Dora. If you neglect her, you will have to deal with me."

Tom nodded respectfully.

Dora smiled and said, "Tom is always very nice. In fact, I want to offer him a job at the company."

"It is up to you." Ethan shrugged. "Do you have any updates regarding our progress with Director Miller?"

"Everything goes well," Dora replied. He chose Jess to be the lead actress. With her, we are guaranteed to bring in the big bucks!"

"Is there anything else?" Ethan wondered.

Dora sighed and said, "There is always more. Who can keep up with it? I heard that the boss of Garcia Entertainment is ill. Should we take the opportunity to try to acquire more stocks?"

Ethan frowned and said, "Do not meddle with Garcia Entertainment. I have my own plan for them. It will take time, but it will be worth it in the end."

"On that note," Dora said, "I think that I will go. Time flies, you know?"

Dora grabbed her coat and headed into the hallway. Just as she walked past the door, though, she was bumped by a woman with a hat. "Hey," she snapped, "Watch out. Are you blind?"

"Sorry," the woman stammered, "I am just very anxious. I should have been watching where I was going."

Dora looked up and was speechless when she saw that the woman who'd bumped her was actually Kylie. "You…" she gasped. She looked back at Ethan. He looked unhappy, but he did not look surprised.

Kylie walked past her to where Ethan was standing and said, "I've found you. Why didn't you wait for me? I thought that we were doing this together…"

Ethan glanced at her and took her hand into his own. "I look away for a minute," she laughed, "and you disappear!"

Ethan smiled and said, "You took so long. You shouldn't be surprised that I ran into somebody that I know."

Dora watched them unhappily, but she kept the contempt from her eyes or expression.

Kylie looked at Dora and said, "I am glad to see that you are up and about. I hope that you weren't persuaded to accept an early discharge for the sake of saving money… I know that Ethan is your loyal friend. I am sure that if you needed help, that he would have given it to you."

The more Kylie said… the angrier Dora got.

It wasn't long before Tom emerged, and he was amazed to see Kylie there. Tom waved to Ethan and Ethan waved back. Ethan looked at Kylie and said, "We should be going."

Everyone nodded, and everyone padded to the elevator. Kylie got in first, followed by Ethan, and then Dora and Tom. Once the door closed, Kylie looked at Dora and asked her if Tom was her boyfriend. Hearing this, Tom's expression changed instantly. He glanced at Dora, but he did not dare to speak.

Dora stood at the outermost part of the elevator. Without turning around, she said, "He is my friend."

"Oh..."Kylie responded simply. Then she looked at Ethan with a smile and said, "They are wearing matching shoes, so I thought they were a couple…"

"I guess you were wrong," Ethan sighed.

Dora hadn't realized that Tom had bought them matching shoes but, when she looked at his feet, she saw that it was true. Her face turned red with embarrassment, and she called Tom a big galoot. The air in the elevator had been thick before, but now it was so thick that it could be cut with a knife.

Tom hung his head, and he said, "I bought them for her. I have a pair, and they are very comfortable, so I thought she would like them. I am sorry, but I didn't take into account what people might think…"

"Oh, fuck off!" Dora snapped.