로그인The electricity of the kiss is still buzzing like a live wire against my lips, but the sudden, cold splash of reality hits my brain a second later. My instincts—the ones that have kept me breathing through this entire nightmare—slay the romance in an instant. I pull away from him. Sharply. "Ow, da
A ragged, choking sob rips out of my throat, and I completely break down, burying my face into my hands as my entire body shakes with tears. Deckard was a fraud. A calculated, narcissistic, disgusting fraud. He was the imposter, and I spent three whole years of my life letting him emotionally manip
He doesn't reply. He looks away from me, his gaze drifting back out toward the crashing waves and the open sky. For a long, agonizing moment, the only sound between us is the rhythmic roar of the tide. He doesn't say he forgives me, and he doesn't tell me I'm wrong. Instead, he stretches his arm
The car door clicks open, and the salty, sharp scent of the ocean instantly floods my senses. I let out a low groan, my muscles locking up as Owen gently hooks his arms underneath my shoulders to guide me out of the passenger seat. Every single inch of my body is actively screaming at me. Since Ca
"Sydney... I stepped down from my position at the firm," I say quietly, the words falling like lead weights into the dark space between us. She freezes, her jaw dropping slightly as she stares at me in shock. "What? What do you mean you stepped down?" "I resigned," I clarify, looking her dead in t
Slowly, deliberately, I run my fingers through her soft hair, tangling my hand in the strands, silently vowing to myself that no one will ever lay a malicious finger on her again as long as I am drawing breath. We stay like that for a long stretch of time, existing entirely in the quiet sanctuary o
"So you saw her that day?" The detective’s voice is a low, gravelly drone that usually makes me want to yawn, but today? Today, it’s music to my ears. I’m sitting in the Newton’s private study, the air smelling of aged mahogany and the faint, lingering scent of Grandmother’s favorite lavender sache
I’ve been pacing the length of the living room for what feels like an eternity, checking the time on my watch every thirty seconds as if I can intimidate the hands into moving backward. It’s well past dark, and Sydney is nowhere to be found. I’ve tried her phone. Six times. Ten times. I’ve lost cou
Did I arrive before everyone else? The silence in this house isn't the peaceful kind of quiet. It’s the heavy, suffocating silence of a tomb that’s been recently dusted. As I walk deeper into the mansion, my heels clicking rhythmically against the polished hardwood, I realize just how much of a mis
I’m nursing a lukewarm cup of coffee when one of the maids approaches, her eyes apologetic as she holds out a plain, cream-colored envelope. "This just arrived for you, Miss Sterling," she says softly. I take it, my fingers tracing the heavy cardstock. There’s no return address, no flashy logo—jus







