تسجيل الدخولMARY'S POV:The officers let me ride in the back with her, on the way to Marilyn's. Elowen didn't cry. She didn't speak. She just held my hand and stared out the window, and I watched her small face in the reflection and wondered if she would ever forgive me for this.Marilyn was waiting on the front porch when we arrived. She took Elowen's hand without a word, without a hug and even without asking any questions. Elowen looked back at me once, her eyes wide and scared, and then she disappeared inside the house.I got back in the police car.The drive to the station was silent.~~~~~~~The interrogation room was cold.Although it wasn't that freezing, but cold enough that I could see my breath when I exhaled. The walls were pale gray, the floor was linoleum, the table was metal and bolted to the ground. A single camera stared down from the corner of the ceiling, its red light blinking.I sat in the chair and waited.Officer Delgado came in first, followed by another officer I hadn't me
MARY'S POV:I tried again but nothing. Again and once again, nothing.His phone was unreachable, or he was ignoring me, or he had turned it off entirely. I didn't know which was worse.I stared at my phone, my thumb hovering over his name, and I felt something cold settle into my stomach. He wasn't coming. He wasn't answering. He was out there somewhere, maybe with her, while I was here trying to protect our daughter from the consequences of his choices.I put the phone down and walked back to the living room.Elowen was still on the couch, still wrapped in the blanket, still staring at the television. But her eyes were glassy, unfocused, and I knew she wasn't really watching."Mommy," she said, her voice small. "Who were those people?""Nobody, baby. Just some people who made a mistake.""Why did they shout at you?"I knelt down in front of her and took her hands. They were cold, even in mine."Because sometimes people believe things that aren't true," I said. "And sometimes they get
MARY'S POV:My hands were shaking on the steering wheel.Elowen was curled up in the passenger seat beside me, her small body pressed against the door, her purple backpack still strapped to her shoulders. She had stopped crying somewhere between the driveway and the corner, but her face was still wet, her eyes still wide, her breath still coming in short, hitching gasps that made my chest ache.I couldn't look at her. If I looked at her, I would fall apart. And I couldn't fall apart. Not yet. Not until we were safe.The car was still in the garage. The garage door was still open. I had made it to the driver's seat, had gotten Elowen inside, had my keys in the ignition—A knock on the window. It was loud and violent. A fist slamming against the glass so hard that the whole car shuddered.I turned my head slowly, my heart pounding somewhere in my throat, and I saw him. A man. Middle-aged, maybe, though it was hard to tell through the distortion of the window and the adrenaline flooding
ALISTAIR POV:I held a private party for Vesper that day.It was not public. The reporters were still crazily following her around, camping outside hotels and restaurants, printing lies about the two of us. So I kept it small. A rented penthouse overlooking the city, a few close friends, good champagne with soft music to go with.But once things calmed down, once the world moved on to the next scandal, I planned to throw her an even grander party. The type of party that people talked about for years. Something worthy of her.Vesper arrived in a silver dress that caught the light like water. Her hair was pinned up, her neck bare except for a thin gold chain. She looked like something out of a dream."You did all of this for me?" she asked, her voice soft and warm."All of this and more," I said.She smiled, and I felt that warmth spread through my chest.The evening passed in a blur of laughter and champagne. I watched her move through the room, watched her charm my friends, watched he
ALISTAIR POV:The morning light came through the big and huge windows of the hotel suite, soft and golden, and I stood there with a cup of coffee in my hand and a feeling in my chest that I had almost forgotten existed.Happiness.Real happiness. Vesper was back.I turned away from the window and looked at the bed. She was still asleep, her dark hair spread across the pillow, her lips slightly parted, one bare shoulder exposed above the white sheet. She looked the same as she had all those years ago, younger, somehow, even though we both knew time had passed. The same delicate curve of her jaw. The same soft rise and fall of her breathing. The same way of taking up space in a room without seeming to try.I had loved her for so long that I couldn't remember what my life felt like before her.Not that we had ever been together. Not really. Back then, I was no one. A college kid with ambition and nothing else. No money, no connections, no way to give her the life she deserved. I watched
MARY'S POV:I stared at the screen, my finger frozen over the notification. His profile picture was the same one he had used for years, a professional headshot, his smile controlled, his eyes unreadable. And next to it, in small gray letters, the word that changed everything:Liked.He had seen the posts. He had read them, or at least glanced at them, and he had liked one of them. Maybe accidentally. Maybe on purpose. Maybe because he agreed with what it said.It didn't matter.The like had been removed by the time I found it, quickly, probably as soon as someone told him it was there. But not quickly enough. The damage was done. Thousands of people had already seen it. Screenshots had already been taken. The internet never forgot, and neither would I.I set my phone down and walked to the window.The street outside was quiet. Normal. Cars drove past. A neighbor walked their dog. A child rode a bicycle in wobbly circles on the sidewalk. Nothing had changed, and yet everything had chan
HANNAH’S POV:He parked outside one of my favorite restaurants. It was called Lovelies and it was a cozy little place that made the best homemade takeouts. It was one of the notable identifications for me at how the city had developed over the past years of my absence. I remember there used to be a
3RD POV:Cherry threw a handful of confetti at him. “We thought you’d like a little noise before you go back to being boring again!”Martin appeared with a tray which had lasagna she had made for him while in the hospital and he asked for more, grinning. “I told them you’d be craving this more than
3RD POV:Her father’s voice rose slightly, “Because there’s no proof, Hannah! None! Janet’s been through hell because of you. The least you can do is stop adding fuel to her misery.”Her voice trembled from rage, not fear. “Her misery? What about mine? What about Elijah’s? What about my children wa
3RD POV:“No, please,” Janet pleaded as she cut her off, raising her hands, “just hear me out.”She stood abruptly and began pacing.“I know it looks bad. I know the timing is terrible. But I didn’t shoot Elijah. I wasn’t even near the mansion that night. I was home! I swear it. And all these… accu







