LOGIN"I don't want to go back to what we were," she said. "I'd burn it down before I let that happen." Her chin lifted slightly. "So whatever this is," she said, "it has to be something we've never been." "From the ground up." The air between us had changed. Nothing had moved to change it. My finge
Edward's POV A flight of stairs. Elena's door was ajar when I reached the landing. I pushed it open and stepped inside. She was at the window. Coat still on. I shrugged mine off and set it on the chair by the door. The click of the latch made her shoulders tighten once before they released. "Y
Thursday. The registry doors opened before I fully reached them, air still adjusting around the gap, carrying paper dust and ink heat and the low sound of decisions being processed without ceremony, none of it pausing for me. My name came almost immediately. Not because I was expected—because the
Alicia's POV Apartment light warmed the room before I crossed the threshold. Elena stood at the counter, spoon tracing slow circles through a pot resting on low heat. Steam rose in thin strands, breaking apart under the ceiling light before it could gather into anything defined. My shoes paused b
Edward's POV I didn’t remember walking into the estate. I remembered the gate. Then nothing clean after that—just fragments of motion stitched together without pause. Headlights fading into the drive. The slow roll of tires over stone. The way the house lights adjusted as if it had already antic
The car didn’t stop at the main entrance. It passed the glass frontage of the building, continued past the visible entry point, and turned into the service approach that only functioned as an entrance once the guard stepped aside. No signage. No announcement. Just controlled access. I didn’t que
Then turned to Caroline. "Tell me about the gallery renovations. I heard the timeline shifted." Caroline launched into an explanation about contractor delays and permit issues. The conversation moved. Lucy stared at her plate. Her jaw working. I took another bite. None of it landed. But I ke
Alicia's POV I wheeled Lily into the consultation room. Parked her chair beside the examination table. The room smelled like disinfectant. Strong. Chemical. Lily shifted in her wheelchair. "You okay?" "I'm fine." "You're doing that hovering thing." "I'm not hovering." "You are." The nurse ca
Alicia's POV The cab pulled up to the apartment just as the sky turned that soft purple-gray before dark. I paid the driver. Got out. My legs felt shaky. The last three hours replayed in fragments. The hospital. Edward's face. Getting Lily home. My mother's questions. Lily's guilty silence. I w
Alicia's POV It took a while before I realized my hands had stopped shaking. That was the first thing I noticed. Walking through that door, handing Edward the envelope, crossing the room under every pair of eyes—all of that had cost me. But now I was here. Seated. And my hands were steady on t







