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2025-06-22 00:26:23The office smelled like leather and ambition.
Not the fake kind—the real kind. Worn books, fresh coffee, and that scent men wear when they’re too rich to buy cologne at a department store. Eden stood in front of the glass doors for three full seconds before she walked in. It was the waiting that used to break her. The hesitation. The “Is this the right thing to do?” echo that used to run laps through her chest. But now, the silence didn’t scare her. She wore it like a coat. “Ms. Cross?” the assistant said, rising from behind a polished mahogany desk. Eden didn’t correct her. Not yet. She let the name hang in the air like perfume—familiar, but soon to be replaced. “Yes.” “Mr. Ellis is ready for you.” She followed the assistant down a hallway lined with framed degrees and marble tile. Every step of her heels felt like punctuation. Final. Sharp. Sure. The lawyer, Daniel Ellis, looked like someone who hadn’t been surprised since 1998. His tie was straight, his beard trimmed, and his eyes didn’t linger too long. That was a good sign. “Mrs. Cross,” he said, standing. “Ms.,” she replied, sliding the folder onto his desk as she sat. “At least for now.” He nodded. “Understood.” She let him open the folder—tabbed, highlighted, color-coded. Receipts. Account numbers. Emails. Voicemails. Screen grabs. It was all there. $72,568 worth of betrayal, documented and dated. Ellis let out a slow whistle as he scanned the contents. “You did your homework.” “No. I did his,” Eden replied, arms crossed. “For ten years.” He looked up. Not with pity. With professional curiosity. “You want to press charges?” “No,” she said. “I want to file for divorce. I want to remove my name from the LLC he forged it into. I want to clear my involvement with the church’s financial accounts. And I want to make damn sure if he tries to pin this on me, I’m not the one in handcuffs.” He tapped his pen against the table, impressed. “You’re not here for revenge.” She leaned forward, voice smooth as smoke. “I’m here for freedom. Let’s not confuse the two.” Ellis smiled—just a little. “You’ll need to sign an affidavit stating you weren’t aware of the account, and we’ll draft a cease-and-desist regarding use of your name in any financial activity. We’ll also initiate full divorce proceedings. Contested, I assume?” Eden arched an eyebrow. “You assume correctly.” As he typed, Eden let her gaze drift toward the window. Outside, the city buzzed. She wondered if Callum Calhoun was somewhere in it—maybe back at Black Velvet & Lace, maybe behind some corner office desk making power moves and sipping espresso without a care in the world. The man had left an impression. Not just for how he looked—but for how he didn’t flinch. For how he didn’t try to fix her, or fill her silence, or say “You’ll find someone better.” He didn’t speak to the wife in her. He spoke to the woman. And that… was dangerous. “Ms. Cross?” Ellis said, pulling her back. She blinked. “Sorry. Long month.” He slid a paper across the desk. “Sign here.” She looked down at the page. The legal terms blurred for a moment—Affidavit. Separation. Liability. But what stood out the most was her name. Eden Marie Cross. God, how many times had she signed things without reading? Loan applications. Mortgage renewals. Car titles. Co-signed documents under the assumption of love and loyalty. Trust had nearly cost her everything. Not this time. She picked up the pen. Her hand didn’t shake. She signed. And as the ink dried, Eden didn’t feel small. Or scared. Or sad. She felt clean.
Latest chapter
Sanctified Sin High Alert
Callum lay awake in the dark, the ceiling above him a cold, blank canvas. The house breathed softly around him—faint creaks, the hum of the furnace, the occasional sigh of wind scraping along the eaves. But his mind was anything but still.He thought about Eden.About the way she had looked last night, curled on the couch, cardigan wrapped tight around her like armor. About the tremor in her voice when she pointed out the crow’s feather on the porch. About the message scrawled in the condensation on her car window. See you soon.That wasn’t just a threat. It was a promise.He pushed the blankets off, swung his legs to the floor, and stood. Outside, the world was silent, but his gut tightened as he stepped into the kitchen and flicked on the light. The glow illuminated a stack of papers Eden had left on the table — court documents, maps, and a worn folder with tabs labeled in Eden’s neat handwriting.He ran his fingers over the edge of the folder, but his thoughts were already outside,
Sanctified Sin Glass Shadows
The sound of rain woke her.Not the soft kind that lulled you back to sleep — this was sharp, needling against the windows, the gutters rattling with the rush. A branch scraped somewhere near the bedroom, an insistent fingernail dragging down the siding.Eden lay still, holding her breath. Sometimes she swore she could hear more than the weather — little changes in the air, like someone had stepped too close. She listened harder until her own heartbeat filled her ears.Beside her, the space was empty; Callum had stayed downstairs again. She rolled out of bed, pulling a sweatshirt over her tank top, bare feet whispering against the hall rug.The glow from the kitchen spilled into the hallway. Callum was at the table, laptop open, a legal pad covered in his tight handwriting. His shoulders hunched forward, his focus absolute.“Couldn’t sleep?” she asked.“Didn’t want to.” His voice was rough from hours awake. He gestured toward the papers. “Security quotes. Cameras. Motion lights.”She
Sanctified Sin Cold Hands
The house wouldn’t sleep.It breathed and creaked the way all old houses do, but tonight every sound felt sharper, like it was cutting through the dark to find her. The wind scraped along the siding, sighed through the eaves, and made the loose screen on the back porch door thrum like a heartbeat.Eden sat on the couch, cardigan pulled tight, one knee tucked under her. Callum was across from her in the armchair, still in jeans and boots, as if undressing for bed meant letting his guard down. His head was tipped back, eyes closed, but she knew he wasn’t asleep.Upstairs, a soft cough. Katie Faith.Eden pushed herself up and padded down the hall, careful to avoid the board that groaned when stepped on. She found Katie tangled in her blankets, hair sticking to her cheek. Eden smoothed it back and kissed her warm forehead. The little girl stirred but didn’t wake.“Go back to sleep, baby,” Eden whispered. She stayed there a moment longer, hand resting on that small rise and fall, grounding
Sanctified Sin Eating Crow
The wind clawed at the house, rattling loose shingles and whispering through the cracks like it carried secrets.Eden sat at the kitchen table, court papers and maps spread before her like a battle plan. A half-full mug of coffee sat cooling by her elbow, untouched. The house wasn’t silent—it breathed, creaked, whispered—but every sound felt like a question she didn’t have an answer for.She stared at the manila folder in front of her. Not the one from the lawyer—no. This one was older. Worn edges. Tabs labeled in her neat, obsessive handwriting.It still smelled faintly of candle wax and old hymnals.August.She could see herself as she was then—his cologne on her pillow, his voicemail in her ear, and the heat of a Tennessee summer pressing against the windows like it wanted to listen in.“You’re such a good girl for me, baby. I wish she touched me like you do.”The words hadn’t detonated that day. They’d settled—slow and smoky—until her ribs felt like cinders and her stomach like so
Sanctified Sin Ashes in the Air
Callum had never been good at waiting.It had been nearly a decade since he’d worn a badge, but the instinct was still there, thrumming beneath his skin like a live wire. Back then, waiting had meant the difference between pulling a drunk driver out alive or dragging a tarp over a body. Now it felt just as high stakes, only worse—because this wasn’t some faceless stranger. This was Eden.She was down the hall, her footsteps soft as she moved from room to room. He didn’t have to see her to know her pattern by now—check the front lock, check the back, peek out the windows, circle back to the kids’ rooms, repeat.He rubbed a hand over his face, the stubble catching rough against his palm. He hated the sound of her quiet determination. Not because it made her weak—it didn’t—but because it meant she was preparing for war.⸻“Callum.”Her voice pulled him from his thoughts. She stood in the kitchen doorway, hair twisted up in a messy knot, dark circles under her eyes. Even like this—barefoo
Sanctified Sin Ember
The house creaked with movement—pipes ticking, walls settling, wind pushing against the eaves. It wasn’t silent. Not anymore. Every sound made Eden’s skin prickle, every shadow in the corner of her vision felt like it was holding its breath.She stood at the kitchen sink staring out into the black yard, her reflection faint in the glass. Beyond that—nothing but trees, swaying in the wind. No headlights. No movement. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was out there, watching.The kids’ sound machine hummed faintly down the hall, a soft rush of static that should have been comforting. It wasn’t. It felt like a thin barrier between them and whatever waited outside.Behind her, Callum’s boots scuffed against the floorboards. He wasn’t trying to be quiet—he never did—but she knew him well enough now to hear the difference in his pace. Measured. Heavy. The walk of a man coiled tight and ready to spring.She didn’t turn as he came into the kitchen. She kept her eyes fixed on the
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