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Chapter 163: New Music
Tanggal publikasi:
2026-10-14 22:00:16The December afternoon light hits the restored arched windows at four o'clock, turning the stone of the main hall into a sea of liquid gold.
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EYES OPEN Chapter 165: Eyes Open
I notice the smile first.Not the small, private smile of a liar hiding a phone beside his plate. Not the curated, charming performance of a man managing two lives while his wife sits across from him cutting into chicken.This smile is open, warm, and entirely mine.It is eight o'clock in the evening. The guests from Clara's birthday party have left. The apartment is quiet again, filled with the soft amber glow of the streetlights filtering through the floor to ceiling windows and the gentle scent of roasted tea.Rhys sits across from me at our dark wood dining table.Clara is asleep in her room, exhausted from a afternoon of being adored by two grandmothers, three aunts, an uncle, and a cellist. Arlo is sprawled across the floor between our chairs, his one white ear resting against Rhys's foot.Rhys sets his wine glass down on the table. He isn't looking at a phone. His hands are resting flat on the wood, his dark eyes fixed entirely on me.
EYES OPEN Chapter 164: June Light
June returns to London with warm, golden evenings and the scent of jasmine drifting from the balconies of Clerkenwell.Clara takes three unsteady steps across our living room floor, her tiny arms out for balance, her dark curls bouncing as she wobbles.Arlo sits two feet away, motionless as a statue, acting as a soft barrier in case she falls. She doesn't fall. She reaches Rhys's knees, letting out a triumphant, high-pitched laugh as her small hands grab his trousers.Rhys scoops her up in one smooth motion, lifting her high above his head while she giggles frantically."Three steps," Rhys says, his voice low, warm, and filled with an absolute, quiet pride. "She's officially mobile.""She was already mobile," I say, leaning against the kitchen counter with my coffee. "She was just crawling at high speeds to avoid bedtime."Rhys brings her down to his chest, cradling her against his dark linen shirt. At one year old, Clara is a bright, relent
EYES OPEN Chapter 163: New Music
The December afternoon light hits the restored arched windows at four o'clock, turning the stone of the main hall into a sea of liquid gold.
EYES OPEN Chapter 162: The Frost and the Fire
December arrives in the countryside like a quiet, silver breath.The frost sits thick over the grounds of the heritage building, coating the ancient oak trees in crystal and turning the gravel driveway white. The air is cold, clean, and sharp, smelling of pine, woodsmoke, and the deep winter quiet of the hills.The building is finished.Standing on the driveway at five in the evening, watching the golden light from the newly unblocked arched windows stream out across the snow, I can barely recognize the place Rhys brought me to months ago. The modern additions have been stripped away. The original stone is fully restored, warm and majestic under the winter sky, every edge and corner reflecting the care of three generations of craft.Arlo trots through the frost ahead of us, his breath fogging in the air, his amber eyes bright with the excitement of open land.Inside the main hall, the fireplaces are roaring.Massive stone hearths at either e
EYES OPEN Chapter 161: The Quiet After
The apartment smells of lavender, clean linen, and roasted tea.The contrast between the damp concrete sub-level of the Old Bailey and our living room in Clerkenwell is so sharp it feels like stepping between two different worlds.Nora meets us at the entrance. One look at our pale faces, at the dust still clinging to the hem of my wool coat, and she doesn't ask a single question about the courtroom. She takes my coat, her hands trembling slightly, and points toward the bedroom where Clara is sleeping."Felix is upstairs," Nora says quietly, her voice hoarse. "Detective Marsh called ten minutes ago to tell us you were en route. She told us what happened in the corridor."Rhys doesn't speak. He steps past his sister, his large hand still locked around mine, pulling me along with him into the dark, quiet bedroom.He shuts the door. He locks it. He doesn't switch on the lamps.In the dim afternoon light filtering through the linen curtains, he turns to me.His suit jacket hits the floor
EYES OPEN Chapter 160: The Sub-Level
The verdict takes less than forty minutes.Guilty on all counts. Kidnapping, felony escape, aggravated stalking, breach of protective orders. The jury returns to Courtroom Four with the cold efficiency of people who listened to the evidence and found zero doubt.Justice Alistair doesn't delay. He schedules formal sentencing for the following week, remanding Derek and Vivienne to high-security holding without bail.Vivienne doesn't react when the gavel falls. She stands up, turns her back on the room, and lets the guards lead her away into the sub-level holding cells.Derek doesn't look at the judge. He doesn't look at his public defender. As the officers step up to cuff his wrists, his eyes sweep the public gallery one last time, searching for me.I am already standing.Rhys has his hand anchored at the small of my back, guiding me out through the restricted side door to avoid the media press gathered on the front steps. Detective Marsh lead
EYES OPEN Chapter 6: Friday
Friday arrives the way all dangerous things do.Quietly.Derek is in a good mood at breakfast. Humming while he makes toast, refilling my coffee without being asked, kissing the top of my head on his way past like we are a couple in a commercial for something wholesome. He has no idea. Absolutely z
EYES OPEN Chapter 5: Archer's
I get there first.Deliberately.I want to see him walk in before he sees me. I want that five seconds of observing without being observed, the small advantage of knowing what I am dealing with before the interaction starts. Old habit. My mother called it paranoia. I call it preparation.Archer's is
EYES OPEN Chapter 4: What I Want
What do I want?Nobody has asked me that in a very long time.Derek used to ask, in the beginning. What do you want for dinner, what do you want to do this weekend, where do you want to go for our anniversary. Small questions. The kind that feel like love when someone is asking them and feel like p
EYES OPEN Chapter 3: The Night He Didn't Come Home
Derek calls at 9:47pm.I know the exact time because I am lying on my back in our bed, staring at the ceiling, watching the minutes tick over on the clock like they personally owe me something. His name lights up the screen and I let it ring twice, just long enough that answering feels casual."Hey,
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