Marco’s POVMarco sat in his car, gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. The weight of the evening pressed down on him from the conversation with Sade, the way she walked away without looking back, the cold finality in her voice. He felt sick. He had ruined everything.Without thinking, he pulled out his phone and sent a message.Marco: We fucked up. We so fucked up. I want my family back.He stared at the screen, waiting. No typing bubble appeared. No immediate reply. The silence gnawed at him. Then, his phone lit up, Incoming Call: Isla.His breath hitched as he hesitated before answering. “Hey...”A deep, furious voice cut him off."You motherfucker."Marco’s stomach dropped. It wasn’t Isla. It was Shane."You talking about your family?" Shane spat. "You destroyed my family!"Marco could hear Isla crying in the background. He closed his eyes, his regret thickening. "Shane, man....""Don't fucking Shane me! I mean nothing to you, huh? We've known each othe
Marco’s POVMarco sat in the dimly lit living room, the only sound coming from the clock ticking on the wall. His phone sat beside him, screen dark, just as it had been for weeks. He had called. He had texted. He had begged. But Sade never responded.Until now.His heart nearly stopped when his phone buzzed. He snatched it up, breath catching as he read the message.Sade: Meet me at Robertson Park at 6:30.For a moment, he just stared, rereading the words over and over. A light bulb went off in his head, and a rush of hope flooded his chest. She wanted to meet. She was finally giving him a chance to talk.Jumping to his feet, he grabbed his keys, barely stopping to check the time. He still had an hour, but that didn’t matter. He needed to be there. He needed to make things right.And maybe, just maybe, this was the first step in getting her back.Marco sat on the bench at Robertson Park, his leg bouncing anxiously. He was early. Too early. But waiting alone in the cold felt better tha
Anonymous POVThe walls of the lab felt colder than usual. The sterile air, once a comfort in its predictability, now pressed in on Sade like an invisible weight. August bled into September, yet time felt irrelevant. She moved like a ghost through her own life, floating from her desk to the lab, from the microscope to her laptop, mechanically completing tasks that once brought her pride. She still excelled, her work remained impeccable, her contributions essential, but she was nothing more than a machine, performing functions without feeling.She hadn't redone her braids. New growth had overtaken the neat parts, stray strands slipping from their places. Her outfits, once a reflection of her confident and polished self, had lost all intention. Nothing matched. Nothing mattered.People at work noticed.Her colleagues had stopped inviting her to lunch, not out of cruelty, but because she no longer responded. They would see her sitting at her station, face barely visible behind the micros
Anonymous povThe fallout of what was once considered a "perfect" marriage in the public eye was swift, it was fast, and it was brutal. It didn’t matter that Shane and Isla hadn't filed for divorce just yet; the damage was already done. The whispers behind Isla’s back were impossible to ignore. Every time she walked down the street, she could feel the weight of the side-eyes, the looks of disgust that followed her wherever she went. People who used to smile at her now turned their faces away as if she had some contagious disease. There was no pretending anymore. Her life, the life she had worked so hard to build, was no longer hers.Shane had taken the children, all three of them, and left. He moved in with his parents, the door slamming shut on their family’s supposed unity. He was beyond angry, livid that Isla had betrayed him. How could she? How could the woman he had been with since he was sixteen years old suddenly turn her back on him like that? He felt betrayed, humiliated.Sad
Sade’s POVThe block party was supposed to be fun, a time for laughter and memories, the kind of event that defined summer in the neighborhood. Kids running wild, their laughter echoing in the streets, the smell of grilled food wafting through the air, and the community coming together to celebrate life.But something felt wrong.It wasn’t obvious at first, but I could feel it, like a storm cloud lingering on the horizon. It started with Isla. She wasn’t smiling like she usually did. Not genuinely, anyway. She was laughing, but it was empty, like she was pretending to fit in. She would dance with the others, but her movements were robotic, stiff, as though she was somewhere else.Then there was Madison. My sister, always so composed, always so strong. But tonight? She wasn’t the same. Her eyes kept darting to our mom, as if searching for something, some answer she hadn’t found. And when she did meet my gaze, her expression was guarded, like she was keeping a secret, a painful one, and
Sadé’s POVThe block was lit.Essex had been completely shut down, and people from up and down the street filled every available inch of space. No cars lined the curbs; instead, the Chicago Police Department had blocked off the entire area, forcing everyone to park on nearby streets. Marco’s SUV sat a few blocks away, but Sadé’s Audi was right there in the driveway, covered in deep tints. The DJ had the speakers thumping, jumping from old school bangers to the latest hits, and the smell of barbecue thickened the air.Coolers were lined up along the driveway, packed with drinks. Kids ran wild between the bounce houses, water slides, and sidewalk games, and the playpen had been set up for the babies. Sadé’s whole family was here. Marco’s whole family was here. Everybody’s family was here. It was one of those days where the South Side felt like home in the best way.But they were running low on ice.She found Marco standing near the grill, laughing with Derek. “Hey, we’re running out of