LOGIN[Sarah’s POV] The fluorescent lights of the hospital waiting room hummed with a sterile, relentless buzz that felt like it was drilling directly into my skull. Outside, the New York skyline had long since shifted from the bruised orange of twilight to a cold, obsidian black. I sat in a hard plastic chair, my back stiff and my joints aching. I was still wearing the clothings from this morning, though someone—Dex or maybe a kind nurse—had thrown a heavy wool coat over my shoulders. I looked down at my hands, I couldn't bring myself to wash it off. It felt like the only physical connection I had left to the moment Tyler disappeared into the house. "Ms Hale. Please." I looked up. Dex was standing over me, a crumpled paper bag from the hospital canteen in his hand. His face was etched with a weary kind of pity that made me want to scream. "You haven't had a drop of water since we left the estate. You haven't eaten in nearly twenty hours," he said, his voice soft but firm. "Elijah is
[Sarah’s POV]The sound of the explosion settled into the marrow of my bones, a low, vibrating hum that made the world feel like it was made of glass. Thick smoke choked the narrow street, turning the afternoon sun into a bruised, sickly orange orb.I was on my knees on the sidewalk across the road. The grit dug into my skin, but I couldn't feel it. I could only feel the dinosaur pajamas crushed against my chest."Tyler..." The name had become a ghost in my throat.Around me, the neighborhood was waking up to the nightmare. Windows that hadn't been shattered by the blast were being shoved open. I heard the frantic, rhythmic slamming of car doors and the distant, high-pitched scream of a woman three houses down. Neighbors huddled on their stoops, draped in blankets or clutching their children, their voices a rising tide of jagged whispers that drifted through the haze."Did you see him? I heard he went back in...""Was it gas? No, that was a bomb, I’m telling you...""Look at her. Is t
[Sarah’s POV] The drive to the outskirts of the city was a blur of high-speed lane changes and a suffocating, heavy silence. Dex drove, while Big Elijah sat in the passenger seat, his eyes scanning every black SUV they passed. In the back, I sat pressed against the door, my skin crawling, while Tyler stared out the window, his jaw so tight I thought his teeth might shatter. We got to the apartment I had traced Norman to weeks ago, the one I had seen him with Lucy talking about Beatrice’s death. "Stay behind me," Tyler muttered as we reached the third floor. He didn't wait for an answer. He kicked the door in. The wood splintered, and we swarmed into the room, but there was no rush of movement, no screaming. Only the oppressive stillness of a place recently abandoned. "Clear!" Dex shouted, moving through the kitchenette. "Empty," Elijah grunted from the bedroom. I stood in the center of the living room, my heart sinking into my stomach. The place was a disaster. Drawer
[Sarah’s POV] When the world finally began to bleed back in, it wasn't the sun that I felt first, but the rhythmic, agonizing throb in my temples. My eyelids felt like they had been stitched shut with lead. "Sarah? Sarah, can you hear me?"The voice was low, vibrating with a jagged edge of restraint. I forced my eyes open. The ceiling of my bedroom blurred, then sharpened. I wasn't in the mud anymore. I was tucked into my own bed, the silk sheets a stark contrast to the grit I could still feel under my fingernails.Mae was standing by the window, her face a map of fresh tear tracks, holding a tray that trembled in her hands. Rosa sat in the armchair, her rosary beads clicking like a frantic heartbeat. But it was the man sitting on the edge of the mattress who held my world together.Tyler.His eyes were bloodshot, his shirt wrinkled as if he’d been clawing at his own skin. The second my gaze locked onto his, the memory of the CCTV footage all came back rushing.I bolted upright, t
[Sarah’s POV] I was running through the rows of vines, the grapes hanging like shriveled, blackened hearts. The fog was so thick I couldn’t see my own hands, but I could hear him. “Mommy? Mommy, it’s dark.” Caleb’s voice was small, drifting from the edge of the North Ridge. I pushed through the tangled branches, the thorns tearing at my nightgown, drawing blood that looked like ink in the moonlight. I reached the clearing where the old oak stood, but Caleb wasn’t there. I turned, heart hammering against my ribs, and saw a figure standing by the service gate. It was Lucy, her face pale and translucent like a ghost's, holding a bundle wrapped in Caleb's favorite blue blanket."He's not yours anymore, Sarah," she whispered, her voice echoing as if from the bottom of a well. "I've taken what's you're just as you've taken what's mine... We're even now." She stepped backward into an abyss, and as she fell, she let out a jagged, piercing laugh that shattered the sky. I bolted upri
[Tyler’s POV]Ever since Sarah had revoked my ban and initiated this partnership, the atmosphere in the building had shifted. The staff no longer looked at me with pity. I leaned back in the heavy leather chair, and adjusted the lapel of my suit. Across the polished mahogany table, four of our lead analysts were walking through the final projections for the merger."The Canadian logistics are stabilized, Mr. Rider," the head of operations said, tapping a pen against a tablet. "With Sarah’s new security protocols, the leaks have stopped. We’re projected to see a twelve percent rise in the third quarter."I nodded, though my mind was elsewhere. I was looking at the security camera in the corner of the ceiling. Every time I saw a lens, I felt the phantom weight of that footage from Sarah’s office with my face in it. To the world, and as far as I knew, to Sarah, I was still the man who had walked into her office and sold her out. That accusation sat in the back of my throat like a bitter
[Tyler’s POV]The dining room of my sister Brenda’s mansion was a sea of white linen, and the suffocating scent of lilies. It was supposed to be a family bonding evening. Instead, it felt like a wrestling ring.I adjusted my tie for the tenth time, my skin crawling. I had just come from a warehouse
Big Elijah said we hadn't seen a season like this in twenty years.He said it the way he said everything — quietly, standing at the stable fence with his arms folded, looking out at the vineyard the way a man looked at something he loved and had been worried about for a long time.Then he looked at
The doctor said stress induced like it was simple.Like stress was something you could decide to have less of. Like I hadn't spent the last five months rebuilding a life from nothing, alone, and pregnant, with a man who had almost run me over as my closest ally and a vineyard that had needed everyt
"You're supposed to be in bed." Norman said blocking my way."Good morning to you too, Norman.""I'm serious.""So am I." I pulled my coat off the hook by the door, bag already on my shoulder, keys already in my hand. "Move."He didn't move. He stood at the end of the hallway with a mug of coffee.







