LOGINWyatt’s POVThe doctor cleared her at eight-thirty the next morning with a list of instructions she was already dismissing in her head before he finished reading them. Rest, no stress. Nothing strenuous for at least a week.She listened quietly. “I’ll rest after sorting out some things.”The doctor looked at me. I shrugged. He sighed and signed the discharge papers.In the car, she stayed quiet. The mark from the IV still showed on her left arm. Her movements looked slower than normal as if her body was reminding her what had happened, even if she was trying to move past it"I'm not going home," she said when I turned toward her apartment.I kept my eyes on the road. "Avery…""She asked for me." Her voice was even and firm. "So, I'm going."I turned toward the station.Morris met us outside the interview corridor. He looked at Avery. He wanted to say something about her leaving the hospital but decided not to.The corridor narrowed toward a secured door at the end. Morris keyed it ope
Wyatt’s POVI hadn't slept.I sat in the chair beside her bed with my jacket still on and watched the machines all night. The corridor outside slowly changed from late-night quiet to early-morning movement. Trolleys rolled past, low voices, nurses switching shifts, footsteps picking up rhythm as the hospital came back to life.Avery had slept through most of it. Her breathing had steadied by two AM. By four, it sounded more like rest.Grey light came through the window when she finally moved.A small movement at first, her head turning on the pillow, fingers flexing on the blanket. I straightened in the chair. Her eyes opened slowly. She looked at the ceiling, the window, then at me.I watched her figure out where she was. "What happened?" Her voice came out rough and low."All that matters now is that you're okay," I said, leaning forward. "Stella put something in your coffee. We got her and she is in custody."She looked at the IV in her arm, then back at me. She held my gaze for
Wyatt’s POVThe ambulance moved fast through the streets in the late hours of the night.I sat in the back and kept my eyes on Avery’s face. The oxygen mask covered her mouth and nose, her chest rose and fell in steady rhythm now. That was all I focused on. The monitor above her head beeped with her pulse in the green line. The paramedic adjusted the IV line and glanced at the screen without saying anything comforting or anything to calm me down.Her hand rested on the stretcher beside her. I reached over and covered it with mine. Her fingers stayed still. The paramedic turned to me. “Any allergies we should know about?”“None that I know of.” I answered.She wrote it down. “We’re giving her fluids and something to help flush the sedative. Her body is fighting it harder than expected.”I nodded and squeezed Avery’s hand a little tighter. The city lights flashed past the small window. I kept watching her breathe.The paramedics adjusted the oxygen flow and turned back to his monito
Wyatt’s POVShe was measuring the distance between us. I could see the calculation in her eyes, the way they moved from me to the door, weighing every option.Behind me, Avery made a weak sound. She tried to push herself up off the floor. I didn't look back. I couldn't look back. Not yet."Put the drive on the desk," I said.Stella kept her hand in her pocket. Her eyes stayed locked on mine. "You're going to let me walk out of here," she said, her voice stayed completely even. "Because she needs you more than you need to stop me."She wasn't wrong. She'd already done the math."You touch that door," I warned, eyes moved to the door. "And I'll stop you before you reach the corridor.""And leave her on the floor?" She tilted her head slightly. "You won't."Avery’s arm gave out behind me. I heard the dull thud as she fell back down. The small sound she made broke something in my chest. My jaw tightened until it ached. Stella heard it too. Her eyes flicked past me for half a second.I c
Wyatt’s POVI was already halfway to the parking lot when my phone lit up.Avery’s name flashed on the screen. I answered before the first ring finished. “Hey…”Nobody spoke at first. Just a faint background hum and an uneven breath that hit me wrong when I heard it.“Avery.”Then I heard her voice, low, barely there. “My office…”I was already running. Keys out, shoulder hitting the stairwell door. “I hear you,” I said. “I’m coming.”On her end, I heard a chair move against a polished floor then her breathing dropped. “Avery, stay with me,” I said into the phone. “Talk to me.”The line went dead.I stood for half a second. I wasn't thinking. I was just moving. I called Morris while I reached for my car. “Morris, send units to Monochrome.”I didn’t wait for an answer. I started the engine and pulled out fast.I'd been on my way to her anyway.She hadn't called all evening, which wasn't unusual. But something felt off since six. I grabbed my jacket and headed for the car without thin
Avery’s POVIt was Stella….Sound came first.The keyboard clicked steady across the room, typing like someone who knew exactly what they wanted and where to find it.A drawer opened, then closed. She moved through my things, and I lay on my own couch unable to stop her.I started with my fingers, the smallest thing I could still control.I tried to close them around the edge of the cushion. They moved a little, slow and heavy as if my brain sent the message late. I tried again. It was better this time. The laptop screen glowed bright in the dimly lit office. Stella sat in my chair, still typing.I pulled every bit of focus I had and tried to move my arm.I got my shoulders to move just enough. I dragged my body across the cushion a few inches, the angle changed and I saw the desk better. Stella had turned the laptop toward the room so the screen faced out. Either she didn’t care if I saw it, or she wanted me to. I blinked hard, the blur cleared a little. I could see the screen.My
Avery’s POVI sat at the edge of the bed, staring at the wall for hours. Broken glass still littered the room floor. I didn’t have the energy to clean it.I heard voices through the thin walls. It was Marcus first, low and urgent. Then another voice cut through, louder and desperate.Wyatt...My ch
Avery’s POVI woke to an empty house.The couch where Wyatt had been sitting last night was empty. I found a note on the table in the kitchen.“Had to handle something urgent. Back by afternoon. - W”I stared at the note, the feeling, that familiar feeling of being left behind, story of my life...
Wyatt’s POVAvery sat on the edge of the hospital bed when I arrived. She was already dressed in the clean clothes I had bought yesterday. She looked exhausted with dark bruises against her pale-looking skin.The nurse handed me some discharge papers to sign. “She needs rest, no strenuous activity
Nate’s POVThe bed was cold when I woke up the next day of the wedding.I reached for Celeste across the sheets, but it was empty. It’s our first morning as husband and wife and she’d already disappeared.My phone vibrated on the nightstand. It’s a text message from a number I didn’t recognize.“Le







