The price of life (Part one)

The medicine had been experimental, illegal, and virtually unattainable. And as such, it was very, very expansive.
But the Frescobaldi family had been running a very successful high-tech company for four decades. And so, when their Pater familias fell ill with this mysterious and seemingly incurable disease, money wasn't an issue. Investigators were hired, bribes were paid and deals were made. In the end, a shady pharmacist was found, half around the world, who was willing and able to produce the pills. So for tenths of years, a package would be delivered every six months. At huge costs, but the drugs did work. Mr. Frescobaldi was living his life, and the whole family prospered.

But then, as he reached sixty-nine, the packages stopped coming. Panic set in as he started to deteriorate fast. All they had to go on was an old-fashioned e-mail address that seemed to have died down. They sent message after message, ever more urgent, proposing to pay a higher price, doubling it even, but to no avail. The future seemed dim.

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