“You kept her safe,” he murmured, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “You didn’t let go.”“I couldn’t,” I whispered. “She gave me a reason to keep breathing.”He tilted his head down, his voice rasping. “And you gave me a reason to keep looking.”For a long, quiet moment, there was nothing betw
“I thought they had done something crazy to you,” he replied. “But I never stopped loving you. Not once.”“I know,” she whispered. “I knew. I just needed to hear it.”Then there was Emily.She stood alone near the altar, her eyes darting to all the others, her hands wringing together like she wasn’t
E L L EThe silence after Emory’s exit hung in the air like fog after a storm, heavy, still, and haunting. The chapel, once filled with gasps and whispers and eyes trained on chaos, now fell into a strange quiet. The kind that only comes after something that should’ve never happened, finally ends.M
She turned her gaze to Lana now, eyes filled with fire. “And you,” she hissed, voice like a blade. “You’re no better. You think your teary confession makes you a saint? You think turning yourself in means anyone’s going to forgive you?”“I don’t expect forgiveness,” I said quietly.She bared her tee
And stopped just in front of the cops. This is what I deserved. What we deserved. This crime was unforgivable, we not only jeopardized the mental health of Elle and her friends, but also of a three month old baby girl who we had been selfish enough to involve in our sick and twisted games, and I tur
L A N A“I object,” Elle repeated, stepping further into the aisle, the soft tap of her heels echoing through the marble floor, her eyes never once leaving Mikhail. “Not just for myself. But for the truth. For this child.” She adjusted the baby gently against her shoulder, and the motion, so soft, s