LOGINMARY'S POV:She was standing exactly where I had left her, her hand still in Alistair's, her expression wounded and innocent. The slip dress hung from her shoulders like a second skin, pale silk that made her look fragile. Untouchable and definitely the kind of woman you wanted to protect.The kind of woman I would never be.I didn't answer. What was there to say? She had already won. She must have known it. Must have felt it, the way the room had shifted, the way Alistair had chosen her, the way I was standing alone in the doorway of my own home wearing another man's coat.Alistair stepped forward, his voice hardening."You can't just leave."I raised my eyebrows."I won't allow it." His jaw was tight, his eyes blazing with something that looked like anger but felt like something else. Something closer to fear. "You're angry right now. I understand that. But does that mean you've done nothing wrong? Vesper was here first. If anyone has been hurt the most in all of this, it's her."Ve
MARY'S POV:"No."The answer came so quickly that even Vesper looked surprised.For a brief moment, her hand loosened from Alistair's arm. Her fingers slid away, inch by inch, her composure cracking just long enough for me to see the woman beneath the mask. Then Alistair reached over and held onto hers, his fingers wrapping around her palm like he was afraid she might disappear.I watched his hand cover hers. Watched the way his thumb traced small circles on her skin, gentle and absent, the way he used to touch me when we were young and I still believed in forever.I wasn't surprised.Not anymore.The man standing before me was a stranger wearing my husband's face. I had spent the past year learning the shape of his silences, the weight of his absences, the way he could fill a room without ever really being present. But this—this casual claiming of her hand in front of me, this public choosing—was something new.Something I should have expected.Something I should have prepared for.B
MARY'S POV:I turned around.Alistair stood in the doorway of the living room, his tie loosened, his shirt untucked, his eyes fixed on the oversized suit jacket draped across my shoulders. Behind him, the lamps cast long shadows across the floor. The half‑empty glass of whiskey on the side table. The evidence of a night spent waiting.He frowned as he looked toward the driveway, still visible through the open front door."Who was that?"I didn't answer. My fingers curled into the wool of Marl's coat, holding it closed.Behind Alistair, footsteps padded down the stairs. Light. Vesper stepped out, wearing a delicate slip dress, pale that caught the low light. Her dark hair fell loose around her shoulders, and her feet were bare. She looked like she had just woken up, or like she had never gone to sleep.Following his gaze, she smiled lightly."Maybe it was a friend she met at one of those parties," she said. "After all, the man was driving a Lamborghini Huracán." She tilted her head, he
MARY'S POV: I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. My throat was tight, my chest full of something that felt like gratitude and grief and a hundred other things I couldn't name. Marl leaned back in his seat, his posture relaxing slightly. "Besides," he said, "I've benefited from your talents too. Before I tasted your cooking, I had no idea there was a proper way to eat turkey." I laughed again. A real laugh this time, surprising myself. "You're lying." "I'm not. I used to think turkey was just... dry chicken. Then I had yours, and I understood what all the fuss was about." "That was three years ago. Thanksgiving. Alistair invited a bunch of people over." "I remember." His eyes met mine. "I asked him who catered the meal. He said he did. I knew he was lying, but I didn't push it. I figured it was someone close to him or his housekeeper, and either way, it wasn't my business." "And now?" "Now I know it was you. And I think you deserve more credit than you've ever
MARY'S POV:The gesture was meant to hide my expression, to give myself a moment to compose my thoughts. But the moment my palm touched my skin, something in me cracked and surprisingly, I didn't even have the energy to be heartbroken anymore.I was exhausted and I kept my hand over my face and breathed. In, out, in and out.The car was quiet once again and Marl didn't speak. He didn't reach for me. He didn't offer any empty platitudes or useless comfort. He just sat there, his hands on the steering wheel, his eyes on the road ahead, giving me the space I needed to fall apart.The silence stretched between us, long and heavy, filled with everything I couldn't say.When I finally lowered my hand, my face was wet. I hadn't noticed the tears falling. They had just come, the way rain comes, without warning or permission."Sorry," I whispered."You have nothing to apologize for.""I'm crying in your car and in your coat. I probably look insane."He glanced at me, and something flickered ac
MARY'S POV:The car pulled into my driveway, and the engine died, and for a long moment, neither of us moved.I sat in the passenger seat with my hands folded in my lap, staring at the dark windows of my house. The porch light was on, I had left it on, the morning that felt like a lifetime ago, before the strangers came and the cell and the fists.Marl's coat was still wrapped around my shoulders. I had forgotten I was wearing it. The fabric was heavy and warm, smelling of cedar and something clean and sharp, like winter air. It felt strange to be wearing a stranger's clothes. But then again, everything about tonight felt strange."I thought you were Alistair's friend," I said.My voice came out hoarse, scraped raw from crying and screaming and the cold air of the parking lot. I hadn't meant to say it out loud. The words just came, the way words do when you're too tired to filter them.Marl turned his head to look at me. The dashboard lights cast shadows across his face, sharpening hi
HANNAH'S POV:I inhaled sharply at the memory, and suddenly my chest tightened painfully. My breathing got faster and more shallow."Hannah?" Maya whispered from across the room, taking a tentative step forward. "Babygirl, it's okay. You're safe now. We're all here with you."But it wasn't okay. Be
ELIJAH'S POV:The image of her face flashed behind my eyelids. Her soft smile that always made everything better. The way her eyes crinkled at the corners when she laughed at one of my terrible jokes. The way she looked at me sometimes, like I was the safest thing in her entire world.And I had fai
ELIJAH'S POV:He looked at me for a long moment with those serious eyes that were so much like Hannah's. Then he nodded slowly.I pulled him into a tight hug and kissed the top of his head. "I'm going to bring your mom home. I promise you.""You better," he whispered against my chest.Within minute
3RD POV: THAT SAME EVENING:While Elijah was debating on whether to cross over the piece of ceiling that was now obstructing his way from going into where Hannah was, knowing the house was burning so fast. Outside, the fire department had arrived as well as Mr Waltson, Lucas, Jacob and Martin.As







