CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY –INSIDIOUS FEELINGS

With Gordon a solid, reassuring presence at her side, Jasmine steeled her resolve and followed Vanessa through the manor's imposing doors and into the dragon's den itself. The opulence that greeted them within defied description. Soaring ceilings arched overhead, their frescoed expanses a riot of color and artfully rendered scenes. Priceless works of art adorned the walls, their gilded frames glittering in the soft glow cast by elaborately sculpted sconces. It was a setting that wouldn't have been out of place in the grandest museums of the world – a temple dedicated to beauty, culture, and the finer aspects of the human condition. And yet, Jasmine couldn't shake the insidious feeling of something rotten festering at the core of this grandiose facade, a hidden blight tainting the very foundations of such rarefied splendor. Her musings were abruptly cut short as a familiar, cultivated voice sliced through the hushed ambiance like a finely-honed blade. "Well, well. If it isn't my