ANTHONY’S POVI closed the door to the study behind me and exhaled deeply, the kind of breath that comes only after days of tension starts to ease.She was warming up to me again.Elisha.After everything—after the silence, the coldness, the pushing me away—she’d kissed me last night. She’d made my lunch, called me back home, and hugged me at the door like she didn’t want me to leave. She made oysters, of all things. She knew what that meant to me. And she let me hold her like she used to, pulled me to bed like we were still... us.I smiled, wide and unfiltered.Whatever the rough patch was, it was over. Maybe the crash and all that drama with her sister had brought her back to me. Or maybe she was finally coming to her senses. Either way, last night… something shifted.Sure, I’d passed out before the night could really finish. I barely remembered how things ended. But when I woke up and saw her clothes scattered across the floor, her hair spilled on the pillow, I didn’t need a memor
ELISHA’S POVThe key was back in his pocket before he even stirred.I eased it in gently, fingers slipping it into the familiar right side of his trousers as he breathed in a slow, wine-drenched rhythm. He didn’t move. Not once. Not when I unfastened the buttons, not when I removed them entirely. Just a faint sigh, maybe. A twitch of his foot.I shed my clothes too, quickly but deliberately, draping them beside the bed like they’d fallen there after a night of passion. Then I slid under the covers next to him, staying just close enough so when he woke up, his first sight would be me—bare skin, tousled hair, lips parted in sleep.Let him assume what he wanted to assume.It was manipulative. Maybe cruel. But I was past caring about optics. If pretending we’d had sex bought me even an inch of softness, of breathing room, then fine.Let him believe it.I slept like a free woman that night. Or as close to it as I could feel.***By morning, the air in the house had shifted. The tension
ELISHA’S POVAs if locking me in this house like some antique heirloom weren’t enough, Anthony had taken away my phone, too.No warning. No conversation. Just gone.I hadn’t even noticed it was missing at first. I’d been too busy thinking of exits, watching the way the guards rotated near the garage, and timing how long it took the cook to leave the kitchen for her smoke breaks. But two days after the hospital, when I finally reached for it out of habit—when I realized it wasn’t in my coat pocket or nightstand or even plugged in where I usually left it—I knew.He’d taken it.He didn’t say it outright. He just tightened the control a little more each day. And then one morning, when I was walking past the study, I saw it.It was only a second. The door was slightly ajar. I glimpsed the inside of the desk drawer as he pulled it open to grab a pen, and there—tucked to the side, screen dark but unmistakable—was my phone.My breath caught.He shut the drawer and locked it with a smooth cli
ELISHA’S POVThe lock clicked.Not just on the front door, but in my chest.The sound had become familiar. Sharp. Final. One of the bodyguards would nod slightly as it turned, as if to apologize. But there was no apology in the motion itself—just quiet obedience to orders.Orders Anthony had given.I stood by the windowsill in the sunroom, watching them like a prisoner watches guards from the yard. The garden outside was as serene as ever—manicured hedges, pale rose bushes in bloom, the quiet rustle of leaves. A perfectly composed lie of peace.Inside, I felt nothing but fury.He didn’t yell at me this time. When I’d tried to argue—really argue—he hadn’t matched my anger. Hadn’t lost his temper or raised his voice. Instead, he’d stood still, arms crossed, face unreadable.“You’re not going anywhere,” he said simply. “Don’t waste your energy.”There was no drama. No fight to win. Just that flat, emotionless decree.And somehow, that hurt more than yelling ever could.I’d tried to sneak
ADAM’S POVNo sooner had I slammed the door shut and buckled myself into the backseat than Elijah launched at me.“What the hell were you thinking?” he snapped, twisting around from the driver’s seat, eyes blazing. “You know better than to get into a fight between a husband and a wife!”I leaned back, seething, heart still pounding from what had just happened.“Ex,” I snapped. “Ex-wife.”Elijah shook his head, disappointed and furious. “Doesn’t matter. That’s not your fight. It’s not your business, Adam. You had no right to get involved.”I scoffed. “Are you kidding? You were there. You saw the way he talked to her.”“That doesn’t mean you get to throw yourself into the middle of it.”I clenched my jaw. “I care about her.”“Says who? Since when?”“She’s like a sister to me.”Elijah let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Sister? Oh, we’re still on that?”I said nothing.He turned to face forward, shaking his head again.“You don’t even hear how strange you sound,” he muttered.“She looks l
ELISHA’S POVThe ride to the hospital was silent.Adam sat next to me, his hands clasped tightly together in his lap, occasionally glancing my way—but he didn’t speak. I couldn’t have responded if he had. My ears were ringing too loudly, my heart slamming against my ribs like it was trying to shatter them from the inside out.I wanted to throw up. I wanted to cry. But mostly, I just wanted to disappear.No matter how cruel Natalie had been, how twisted and calculated her actions were… nobody deserved to lose a child. And I knew, all too well, what it did to a body. To a mind. How the grief came in unexpected flashes and long, slow burns. How the silence after the blood was the most unbearable part of it all.After the paramedics had rushed her away from the scene, Adam dealt with the police and spoke with the insurance adjuster while I sat on the side, dazed. We walked into the hospital and were promptly directed to Natalie’s room. The closer I got, the more suffocating the hallway