Chapter 2

I put my arm out to stop McCoy.

“Can this wait until tonight? I want it to be a surprise.”

Unsuspecting, McCoy slipped the list of wishes into his pocket with a smile.

“Sure thing. You’re the boss.

“Hungry? I take it that you haven’t eaten since your discharge. I’ll whip something up for you.

“We’ll head out later to celebrate Teddy’s birthday.”

Raleigh hurried right behind him.

“I’ll make a little sauce to go together with the snack. Moira has to try my cooking.”

Teddy skipped his way into the kitchen.

“I’ll get the plates!”

The trio stepped into the kitchen, brimming with laughter.

Left behind, I watched them look blissfully whole.

They were like one big family.

I let out a wry chuckle.

Ah, well. I supposed I could spend one last birthday with Teddy.

Then, they could be a real family.

The burning pain in my belly intensified.

I retreated to my bedroom and sorted through my belongings.

Ever since I caught McCoy cheating on me, I became very paranoid.

As he wore blue the day he went astray, I burned everything in that shade in our home.

If anything was moved by even an inch in the house, I’d break down and demand to know whether McCoy brought someone home.

Yet now, the once white walls were plastered with blue wallpaper.

The women’s nightgowns hanging on the rack were tailored to Raleigh’s size.

Everything that was mine had been replaced with Raleigh’s preference.

Raleigh’s voice drifted down the hallway outside the door.

“Moira, my lease was up a couple of days ago, so McCoy put me up in your room.

“Your stuff is in the top cabinet. Have a look there.”

Not responding to her, I shifted my gaze to the kitty toothbrush sitting on the bathroom vanity.

It was a matching pair of toothbrushes McCoy and I shared.

Raleigh was lying.

If she was just a guest, the bristles on that toothbrush wouldn’t be frayed and worn down.

The toothbrush certainly wouldn’t be sitting in the same mug, tilted at the same angle as his.

My mind flew back to the day I was admitted to the psychiatric ward.

Raleigh had promised me through her tears.

“Just focus on getting better, Moira.

“I’ll watch over McCoy and Teddy and take good care of them for you.”

It was true that she kept her word.

Raleigh was never once absent in those thousand-odd days.

She took care of their needs.

More than that, she filled their lives in my place.

Shoving the bitterness down my throat, I pulled open the closet to pack my stuff.

The laptop chimed relentlessly with notifications.

I was about to turn it off when my gaze fell on the texts on screen. I stopped dead in my tracks.

“Mr. Evans, I’ve generated today’s love letter using AI and sent it to your missus.”

When I was first admitted, I couldn’t stand to be trapped in the cold, lifeless ward every day.

I begged and cried to be let out.

To calm me down, McCoy promised to write me every day.

The pages were filled with remorse, longing, and all the love he claimed he still felt for me.

Through countless sleepless nights, I read those letters until the words healed me inside.

1,000 letters bore witness to 1,000 tearful moments.

Everything turned out to be a cruel joke played at my expense.

The searing pain burned through my stomach lining.

That familiar feeling of suffocation came crashing over me, as though an invisible hand was closing around my throat.

Without thinking, I grabbed the knife on the table and cut myself.

Blood trickled down my arm as the pain eased the tightening around my throat.

Then, Teddy’s cries burst in my ears.

The knife in my hand was snatched away.

McCoy shoved me onto the bed roughly.

He wrapped the bandage around my wrist as he had done so many times before.

I snapped out of my trance.

Gripping my chin, McCoy pressed my head against the headboard.

His red-rimmed eyes allowed a stray tear to track across my cheek.

“Moira, I’ve put up with your illness for three years. Isn’t that enough?

“Do you hate me that much that you’d rather die?”

Stuck in a daze, I reached up to brush the tear away.

My knuckles grazed across his chest, catching the rough line of a scar.

That was the worst I’d ever injured myself. McCoy, his eyes bloodshot, stabbed himself in the chest.

“I’m the one who failed you, Moira. If you go, I’m coming with you.”

A ripple stirred in the heart that had long since gone still.

I softened my voice.

“McCoy, I just—”

Then came Raleigh’s shriek outside the door.

“Oh, no! McCoy, Teddy’s passed out from seeing all the blood!”