LOGINAvery’s POVWyatt came back on a Friday evening.The sound of my front door opening with the key I gave him two weeks ago, followed by familiar footsteps in the living room. He walked in with his tie loosened, jacket slung over one arm, and his phone pressed to his ear in a conversation with someone he was clearly trying to get off the line. He looked exhausted.I crossed the room, took the phone from his hand, and put it to my ear. “He’ll call you back,” I said, then ended the call. I handed the phone back to him.He stared at me. "You just…""You look horrible, Wyatt.”Something in his expression softened. "Good evening to you too, babe." He dropped the jacket on the chair and pulled me close, one arm around my waist.His mouth pressed against my forehead, then my temple, then found my lips kissing me gently as if he'd been waiting for that the entire drive to my place.He was quieter than usual while I made dinner. He sat at the kitchen counter, scrolling through his phone with
Avery’s POVIt’s one week after the police station.Stella was officially charged to court. Two days after the interrogation, Morris called me back to the station for a final update. Stella had added a few more things to her statement after we left that night.The anonymous calls had been her too. The warning I received about Wyatt and the one Elise received months ago. Morris said Stella admitted she knew Wyatt would become a problem the closer he got to me. Keeping people away from me had been intentional from the beginning.I returned to work five days after leaving the hospital. Everyone told me I should still rest. I'd heard it from the doctor, from Morris, from Wyatt twice. I nodded each time and came to work anyway. Sitting still felt worse than moving.My new assistant placed flowers on the table beside my sketches. White roses with no card in it. I already knew who sent them.My phone buzzed a minute later.‘You've been at the office for nine hours. Go home.’I stared at the
Wyatt’s POV"Avery."Avery froze, hands still on the door knob.Not Arielle, not Ms. Montreux.My entire body locked behind the glass. I straightened immediatelyThe room changed. Not because of the name itself, but because Stella should never know it.Avery turned slowly. “What did you just say?”I pushed the door open before I could think. The sound cut through the room. Stella didn’t flinch. She watched me walk to the table as if she had expected the reaction from me. Avery held Stella’s gaze, her jaw tightened."Interesting," Her eyes shifted toward Avery. “So you buried that part of yourself this deeply.”Stella held her gaze for a moment. Then she looked down at her folded hands on the table. She stayed silent, done with that for now.Avery stepped closer to the table, bag dropped on the floor beside the chair. “Who told you that?” She asked, hands folded across her chest.Stella looked away.Avery’s breathing changed slightly. “Answer me!”Still nothing.Avery laughed, no
Wyatt’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
Nate’s POVOne week in Paris was done, now we are in Italy, the second stop on this endless honeymoon.I sat on the hotel balcony with my laptop open to the same articles I’d read a dozen times already. Jason Shortman’s attempted murder case against Celeste, the police reports, hospital records an
Avery’s POVI backed away from the storage room quickly but before I could reach the door, Jessica ended the call and turned around. She saw me standing at the entrance.“Oh! Avery! You scared the hell out of me.” She pressed a hand to her chest and laughed.My mouth went dry. “Sorry, I…I needed na
Nate’s POVWe landed in New York after cutting the honeymoon short by three days to take care of the mess my so-called wife had created.Celeste clung to my arm with her flawless smile in place for the cameras waiting outside the moment we stepped out of the terminal. Flashes from the cameras were
Avery’s POVThe bus pulled into Ridgefield station just past midnight.Nina waited by her car, her arms were crossed against the cold night air. When she saw me stepping out of the bus with my two bags, relief washed over her face. She rushed over and pulled me into a tight hug.“Thank God you’re o







