"My dear..." Hannah started, trying to break the icy silence.


    "Madam, please, call me Juniper," Juniper offered, her demeanor suddenly polite, a faint smile ying on her lips.


    Kurt stretched his neck to get a better look. The instant his eyes met hers, Juniper''s face hardened, the smile vanishing as she shot him another venomous re.


    He frowned. What had he done? She looked like she wanted to murder him. How was he supposed to ask her about the race now?


    "Juniper," Hannah said, quickly adopting the name. "This is Kurt, my youngest grandson. He studied abroad for years and is an excellent racer."


    Then she turned to her equally useless grandson. "The party won''t start for a while, and Juniper doesn''t know anyone here. Why don''t you take her for a drive? Show her your skills."


    Skills? Kurt shrank in his seat. He couldn''t bring himself to speak. Her skills were light-years ahead of his.


    "Well? Say something!" Hannah pped his arm in frustration. Shanley was impossible, and so was this one. Useless, the both of them!


    "Madam..." Juniper spoke up, saving him. "I''m not a big fan of dangerous activities. I''m perfectly happy to just sit here with my phone. Please, go and entertain your guests. Don''t worry about me."


    Kurt nearly choked. Not a fan of dangerous activities? Was the person who''d left him eating dust a ghost, then?


    He wanted to call her out, but one look at her face and he lost his nerve.


    "You''re right," Hannah conceded, looking at Juniper''s delicate frame. "Of course. We''ll just sit here for a while."


    "Okay," Juniper nodded, staring nkly at her hands.


    Kurt kept his head down, asionally stealing nces at her. Hannah sat between them, looking from one to the other, feeling her blood pressure rise.


    Meanwhile, in another part of the manor, Shanley was pacing, staring at his phone. He''d open a chat with Juniper, type a few words, then delete them Type again, delete, again. He wanted to know what she was doing but didn''t want to seem overbearing.


    Giving up, he left the lounge. He wondered how Kurt was getting on with the gifted doctor. As he walked down the corridor, he overheard two maids whispering.


    "Totally, it has to be a fake. I saw her clothes. Her whole outfit couldn''t have cost more than fifty bucks. How could she afford a gift like that?"


    Shanley paid them no mind, heading for the stairs. "Exactly. A normal gemstone ne costs a fortune, let alone one from J-Five Studio."


    At the mention of J-Five Studio, Shanley stopped and turned back. Someone else gave his grandma a gift from J-Five?


    "I think she cast a spell on her," one maid whispered conspiratorially. "Why else would the matriarch keep calling her a gifted doctor''? She''s just a teenager, probably hasn''t even started college. How could she know anything about medicine? Saving the patriarch was just a lucky fluke."


    The gifted doctor... gave his grandma a gift from J-Five Studio? Shanley''s eyes narrowed as his mind raced. And Juniper was a brilliant healer who knew ancient putse diagnosis techniques...