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Chapter 157: The Inheritance

Author: Clare
last update publish date: 2026-06-14 23:01:42

The winter of our fifth year in Portugal is the quietest yet.

Not empty — just still. The kind of stillness that comes after years of restlessness, when the body finally believes it's safe. Celeste sleeps through the night now. No pacing. No staring at windows. Just the slow, steady rhythm of someone who's stopped waiting for disaster.

I woke up before her on a Tuesday in January.

The sky is gray, the ocean rough. Orwell is curled at the foot of the bed, his breathing shallow. He's twelve now —
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