“I believe he belongs to you,”“I’ve never seen him before,” she said calmly.But I had.Twice.Once in the background of a surveillance photo taken near my daughter’s school.And once, three years ago, tucked into the backseat of Daphne’s car, wearing the same smug face beneath a different name.I didn’t argue.Didn’t yell.Didn’t need to.Because I wasn’t looking for her confession—I already had her answer.She sent him.She knew Gabriella had become something. Something she didn’t like. Something she didn’t control.So she reacted the way women like her always do when they feel power slipping from their hands.She tried to scare her.Tried to break her.I dragged the boy out of her presence, jaw tight, eyes forward.She followed me with that same venomous smile.“I’ve never interfered in your private affairs,” she said lightly. “But if your nurse becomes more than a nurse—”I stopped. Turned slowly.“You’ll what?”She paused. Not because she was scared. Daphne never flinched. But I
I hadn’t slept.Not a second.Not since she looked me in the eye and said, “If I find out Daphne did this, I’m terminating my contract.”I knew Gabriella meant it.And I hated that a part of me tightened at the thought of her leaving. Like it wasn’t just my house she’d be walking away from—but something deeper I hadn’t meant to offer her.I poured a drink I didn’t touch and sat in my office with the lights off, watching the estate through surveillance feeds. Every hallway. Every exterior angle. Guest wing. Kitchen. Back gate. All accounted for.Until forty minutes passed.The camera by the northeast perimeter blinked.Then again.Not enough to register on motion sensors. But enough to catch my eye.I narrowed the feed and zoomed in.There.A figure—hooded, crouched just past the tree line. Not moving. Not pacing. Waiting.Wrong move.I was already up, grabbing the pistol from my safe and strapping it to my back. Pulled my jacket on and pressed the security line on my phone.“Zone Four
The house looked different this time.Not colder. Not grander.Just… heavier.Like it knew what had happened. Like it was watching me.I followed Isaac through the front doors, the blood still drying on my scrubs, the silence between us thick enough to choke.He hadn’t spoken since the car. Not really. Just small things—you’re cold, slow down, drink more water—like his voice could shield me from what just happened.I didn’t know if it could.I didn’t know if he could.The last thing I expected was to feel anything here. Not safety. Not protection. Not whatever had just stirred in my chest when he said he wanted to feel again.But something about the way he looked at me…It was undoing every locked place I’d learned to live inside.He held the door open.Didn’t say a word when I stepped in.Didn’t even look at me like I was a mess—blood-spattered, shaken, spiraling beneath the skin.Instead, he placed a hand at the small of my back, like I was something delicate.Like I was worth prote
The blood wouldn’t come off.I’d washed my hands three times. Scalding water. Industrial soap. Scrubbed until the skin on my knuckles went raw and red.But it was still there.Under my nails.In the folds of my wrist.On my scrubs—thick in some places, smeared in others. James’s blood. Warm, metallic, and real.He’d be okay. That’s what the nurse had said—something about the bullet going clean through the muscle, not hitting bone or artery. He was stable. Talking. Even cracking dry jokes in the trauma bay like nothing had happened.But I wasn’t okay.Not even close.I stood in the corner of the nurses’ station, trembling, arms folded tight across my chest. My breath kept catching in my throat like it didn’t know whether to sob or choke. There were voices around me—colleagues murmuring, someone offering a chair, a cup of water, I think—but I couldn’t really hear any of it.I had called the Langton estate twenty minutes ago. Told the security team there was an incident. That there was a
She didn’t come back that night.I waited. Longer than I should have.By midnight, I’d convinced myself she’d walked away—and maybe she should have.The halls felt emptier than usual. The silence thickens. Even the air was different without her in it.I stood by the library window, staring out at the driveway like I was expecting headlights to slice through the trees and tell me she hadn’t changed her mind.But the gates stayed closed.And the shadows stayed still.I poured a second drink I didn’t want.The burn in my chest had nothing to do with the whiskey.The knock came softly. Too polite.I didn’t turn.I knew that perfume before she opened the door.Daphne.“You’re still awake,” she said, voice smooth as glass.She came in barefoot, a silk robe draped like it cost more than most people’s rent, holding a half-filled glass of red in one hand.I didn’t respond. Just looked past her, at the fire.“You’re brooding again,” she added, stepping closer. “It’s not a good look for you.”“A
Daphne didn’t say a word.Not when the door swung open.Not when she took in the space between us. The distance wasn’t enough.Not even when her eyes flicked down to my hand—still resting on the desk, just inches from his.She only smiled.Tight. Poised. Diamond-cut cruelty behind perfect lipstick.Isaac didn’t flinch.He turned to her like she was no more than a detail. A shadow on the wall.“Gabriella,” he said calmly, “you’re excused.”It wasn’t a dismissal.It was a warning. A shield. A way out before things got bloody.I didn’t speak. Didn’t move.For a breath, I just stood there—watching Daphne watch me like a piece she hadn’t quite figured out how to remove from the board.I nodded once and turned.Her perfume hit me in the hallway—sweet, cloying, expensive. She didn’t follow.But her silence did.It followed me all the way to the front steps.The hospital smelled the same.Bleach. Burnt coffee. Cheap soap and something metallic beneath.I hadn’t meant to come here, but my legs