ANMELDENShe nodded, though she looked pale. “I’m okay. Keep going.”Nico opened one of the old envelopes and pulled out photographs. “These were taken near the riverside road.”I felt Althea’s fingers tighten before she even saw them.One photograph showed a dark green vehicle parked near the old road.Another showed Ramon Silvestre standing beside it.And in the corner of the third, half-hidden by trees, was a woman wearing white pearl earrings.Marina.Adamson stood so quickly his chair scraped against the floor. “She was there?”Celeste took the photo and examined it closely. “At minimum, near the scene.”My mother whispered, “She lied to me.”Althea stared at the photograph, breathing slowly. “She watched?”No one answered.I turned toward her fully, blocking the photo from her sight with my body. “Don’t force it.”Her eyes lifted to mine. “I’m not.”“You’re shaking.”She looked down at her hand, as if surprised to find it trembling.I gently took both of her hands in mine. “Enough for to
Alexander’s POVBy the time we returned to the Bailey mansion, the house no longer looked like it had hosted a dinner.The flowers were still there, arranged perfectly along the halls, the candles still glowed in polished glass holders, and the dining room still carried the faint scent of expensive food and wine, but the elegance had been stripped of its softness. Guards stood at every corner. Staff moved quietly with pale faces. The guests had already been escorted out after giving their statements, and the mansion, despite its lights and marble, felt less like a home and more like a fortress waiting for the next attack.Althea walked beside me without letting go of my hand.She hadn’t let go since we left Marina’s hotel suite.I knew she was tired. I could see it in the way her shoulders had lowered, in the faint shadows beneath her eyes, in the way she leaned closer whenever we stopped walking, as if her body had begun to trust mine before she could give herself permission to admit
Shaun, standing near the door, looked down as if hiding a reaction.Marina’s eyes flashed. “Careful.”“No,” I said. “I was careful when people lied to me. I was careful when everyone buried my memories. I was careful when your people tried to make me afraid of the river again. I’m tired of careful.”Alexander turned toward me slightly, and though his expression remained tense, something warm moved through his eyes.Marina stared at me. “You don’t even remember everything.”“Not yet,” I said. “But I remember enough.”She smiled cruelly. “Do you remember begging Alexander not to leave you? Do you remember crying for him until your mother begged us to keep him away? You think this is romance, child? He loved the ghost of you for years because your broken little mind gave him nothing else.”The words hit hard.Not because they were true.Because they were meant to hurt him.I felt Alexander’s hand go cold.So I turned to him first, not Marina.“Look at me,” I whispered.His eyes shifted t
Althea’s POVThe Alcantara Grand Hotel stood in the center of the province like it had been built to remind people that power did not always need to shout. Its glass walls reflected the wet streets, the golden lights in its lobby spilling outward like nothing terrible could possibly be waiting inside. But as our convoy slowed near the entrance, I felt Alexander’s hand tighten around mine, and I knew the elegance of the place meant nothing.Danger could wear marble floors and chandeliers too.Shaun stepped out first, speaking quietly into his earpiece while scanning the entrance. Two Bailey security men moved ahead, followed by one of Alexander’s plainclothes officers. In the car behind us, Cassandra Winston remained still, her face pale but composed, like a woman preparing to meet a ghost wearing her husband’s blood on its hands.Alexander opened the door for me himself. Before I stepped out, he leaned closer and spoke in a low voice meant only for me.“Stay beside me.”I looked at hi
That silenced him.Lindon looked impressed. “She has a point.”Alexander glared at him. “Don’t help.”“I’m helping logic.”Shaun stepped forward carefully. “Mayor, Madame is not wrong. If Marina Winston knows the mansion’s vulnerabilities through old family ties, keeping Madame in a location already breached may not be safer. A controlled movement could be preferable.”Kuya Adam turned to Shaun slowly. “Are you siding with them?”Shaun looked pained. “I’m siding with the least disastrous option, sir.”“That sounds like siding with them.”“It often does lately.”I almost smiled, but Alexander was still looking at me with that fierce, protective frustration that made my heart ache.I stepped even closer and placed my free hand against his chest, right where I had felt his heartbeat earlier. “I won’t run ahead. I won’t argue if you tell me to step back. I won’t try to face her alone. But don’t make decisions about me while calling it protection.”His eyes held mine.For a second, the roo
Althea’s POVFor a moment after Cassandra spoke, the room seemed to lose all sound.Even the guards stopped moving.Alexander’s hand tightened around mine, but his face had gone perfectly still, and I hated that stillness more than anger. Anger would have been easier to understand. Anger would have meant the name meant nothing except betrayal. But the look in his eyes was worse than rage, because it carried recognition, disbelief, and a kind of pain too old to have been born tonight.“Marina Winston?” he asked, his voice low.Cassandra closed her eyes briefly, as if hearing the name from her son’s mouth hurt more than saying it herself. “Your father’s younger sister.”I looked at Alexander, then at Cassandra. “Your aunt?”He did not answer.He didn’t have to.The silence around him answered for him.Kuya Adam stepped forward, his face hard. “You’re telling us a Winston has been helping the Dales?”Cassandra opened her eyes. “I’m saying the voice sounded like Marina’s. I am not saying
Mayor Alexander's POVThe moment she walked away from the hall, the air changed.Not because of the whispers—those were inevitable. Not because of Daniel’s face turning stiff with humiliation, or his mother’s sudden panic, or Gia’s wide-eyed performance.It changed because the bride didn’t stumble.
Althea's POVFor one breath, the entire venue went silent—so silent I could hear a chair creak somewhere in the back and could hear the faint flutter of ribbons in the wind.“Will you marry me, Mr. Mayor? ”The words didn’t even sound like mine after they left my mouth. They sounded like something
Althea's POVMorning came too fast.The house woke up in layers—first the kitchen, then the hallway, then the living room—until every corner was full of footsteps and voices and hurried hands. Someone knocked on my door before the sun fully climbed, calling my name as if time itself was chasing us.
“F*ck… you’re so tight, babe—”The words cracked through the night like a slap to the face.The hallway outside Daniel’s room was dim, washed in the sickly yellow of a weak bulb that made the paint look tired and old. The house had settled into that deep provincial quiet—crickets outside, leaves sh







