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Chapter 85: Four-Twelve

last update publish date: 2026-07-13 14:55:41

Hannah.

The air conditioning came on every twenty-three minutes.

I'd been counting it since Diana left. Not because the number mattered but because counting was something to do with my mind that wasn't the other thing my mind wanted to do, which was go back to the kitchen and the counter and the scratch in the laminate and what Reeves had said standing on the other side of it.

The room was small. One bed, one window, curtains I hadn't opened because the window faced the parking lot and I didn't
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    Xena.Hannah didn't cry for long.That was the thing about Hannah — she gave herself exactly as much as the moment required and not a second more. Two minutes with her face against my shoulder.Then she straightened and pulled back, looking at me with her eyes still wet and her jaw set and that was that.She's still Hannah. Two years in those houses and she's still exactly Hannah."We need to go," she said."We do.""Reeves—""We'll get to him." I looked at her face. The red-rimmed eyes, the set jaw, the look of a woman who had already processed what she was

  • Married To My Ex-Husband's Uncle   Chapter 85: Four-Twelve

    Hannah.The air conditioning came on every twenty-three minutes.I'd been counting it since Diana left. Not because the number mattered but because counting was something to do with my mind that wasn't the other thing my mind wanted to do, which was go back to the kitchen and the counter and the scratch in the laminate and what Reeves had said standing on the other side of it.The room was small. One bed, one window, curtains I hadn't opened because the window faced the parking lot and I didn't want to see the parking lot. A desk with a chair that was slightly too hard. A bathroom with a light that buzzed when you turned it on. I'd turned it off and left it off.I sat on the floor with my back against the bed.Not the chair, not the bed itself. The floor. Two years of living in houses that weren't mine had taught me that the floor was the one surface in any room that was genuinely neutral. Nobody had chosen the floor. Nobody had arranged it for you. You just sat on it and it held you

  • Married To My Ex-Husband's Uncle   Chapter 84: Room Four-Twelve

    Xena.Axel was waiting by the cars when we came out of the building.He had his keys in his hand and the look of a man who had made a decision and was waiting to see if anyone would argue with it."I'm coming," he said.I looked at him."No," I said."Xena—""I still need space from you, Axel." Not harsh. Just true, the way true things landed when there wasn't time to soften them. "That hasn't changed because we've been in the same room for a week."He held my gaze for a moment. Something working behind his eyes that he kept contained.Then he nodded once and stepped back.I got in the car.Nobody said anything about it. Dante drove. Adrian was in the back seat with his eyes on his phone, running something I hadn't asked about. The city thinned out around us as we hit the highway and I watched it go and thought about a hotel room in Naperville with one occupant who didn't know we were coming.Hannah.I'd been thinking about her in fragments all night — between the documents, between

  • Married To My Ex-Husband's Uncle   Chapter 83: Twelve Hours

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