Semua Bab Love Lies and Deceit: Bab 111 - Bab 117

* Alex Hamilton *Two days later at County Detention Center. The metal door buzzed open with a mechanical finality that always set my teeth on edge. The guards didn't speak as they led me down the corridor, no greetings, no small talk, just the low shuffle of boots and the hum of fluorescent lights above.The air here always felt... colder. Even in summer. Like the concrete remembered every bad decision, every betrayal, every unfinished reckoning.Jason was waiting.He looked different from the man I remembered, less polished, more hollowed out. His once-expensive taste had been reduced to orange scrubs and tired eyes. His hair had grown out, unkempt and graying at the temples. The swagger that used to radiate off him like heat was gone. Now he just looked... used up.He sat behind the glass, fingers steepled under his chin, like he was still playing some mental chess game no one else could see. I picked up the receiver on my side. He mirrored the motion, though slower."Alex," he sai

* Penny *The kettle hissed softly behind me, but I didn't move. The sharp whine of steam curled up and into the silence, unanswered. The laptop screen cast a dull glow over the kitchen island, washing my fingers in pale blue as they hovered above the keyboard, motionless. There were open tabs, bridal suppliers, music lists, flight schedules for out-of-town guests, but my gaze wasn't on any of them.My wedding dress was scheduled for its final fitting tomorrow. White peonies had been ordered, my mother's favorite. My vows, half-written and trembling with hope, waited folded on the nightstand beside my bed.And yet all I could see was her. That woman. Lighting a cigarette under the flickering sign of the Honeywell Motel, her features bleached by surveillance static, but unmistakable. She looked through the camera like she knew I was watching. Like she was daring me to blink first."Don't let your tea go cold," Alex said gently, from the far end of the kitchen.I didn't answer. Couldn't

* Penny *Three days before the wedding, I was still wide awake at Magnolia Manor, curled up in the dim amber light of my study, the clock ticking closer and closer to midnight like a countdown I couldn't stop.I couldn't sleep.I told Alex I would. Even kissed him goodnight with a smile stitched into my lips, like everything was normal. Like I wasn't quietly unraveling. Like the guest rooms weren't being checked every other hour, like off-duty guards weren't pretending to look casual under my window, like the woman I used to be hadn't started bleeding through the cracks again, brought back to life by the sound of Jason Hamilton's voice and the memories it dragged behind it.But I didn't sleep.Instead, I sat cross-legged on the floor, the thick rug cold beneath me, the folder open like a corpse waiting for autopsy. Its contents were chaos incarnate, letters, black-and-white photos, receipts, emails printed and annotated, napkins with his handwriting scrawled like curses, each loop an

* Alex Hamilton *I had never seen her like that before.Not when we first met, not during the worst nights we chased shadows through cold data and colder memories. Not even when she stood over Jason's ruined rumors, careless and free.But today, walking toward me on her brother's arm, veil trailing like mist, eyes fixed on mine, she was the fiercest thing I had ever known. Not because she was unafraid, but because she was, and she walked anyway.My throat tightened. She looked like the truth made flesh. My truth. My choice and my bride. I love her with my life and I swear to protect her for as long as I live.The crowd disappeared. The guards faded. Even the goddamn cameras stopped mattering. All I could see was Penny. She's the most beautiful woman that I have ever laid my eyes upon.I didn't think, I didn't breathe, not until her hand slid into mine."Hi," she whispered."Hi," I said, and it felt like a promise.But then—"WAIT!"Chaos cracked the moment open.I saw Calder react fir