All Chapters of Sanctified Sin: Chapter 31 - Chapter 34

The house wouldn’t sleep.It breathed and creaked the way all old houses do, but tonight every sound felt sharper, like it was cutting through the dark to find her. The wind scraped along the siding, sighed through the eaves, and made the loose screen on the back porch door thrum like a heartbeat.Eden sat on the couch, cardigan pulled tight, one knee tucked under her. Callum was across from her in the armchair, still in jeans and boots, as if undressing for bed meant letting his guard down. His head was tipped back, eyes closed, but she knew he wasn’t asleep.Upstairs, a soft cough. Katie Faith.Eden pushed herself up and padded down the hall, careful to avoid the board that groaned when stepped on. She found Katie tangled in her blankets, hair sticking to her cheek. Eden smoothed it back and kissed her warm forehead. The little girl stirred but didn’t wake.“Go back to sleep, baby,” Eden whispered. She stayed there a moment longer, hand resting on that small rise and fall, grounding

Callum lay awake in the dark, the ceiling above him a cold, blank canvas. The house breathed softly around him—faint creaks, the hum of the furnace, the occasional sigh of wind scraping along the eaves. But his mind was anything but still.He thought about Eden.About the way she had looked last night, curled on the couch, cardigan wrapped tight around her like armor. About the tremor in her voice when she pointed out the crow’s feather on the porch. About the message scrawled in the condensation on her car window. See you soon.That wasn’t just a threat. It was a promise.He pushed the blankets off, swung his legs to the floor, and stood. Outside, the world was silent, but his gut tightened as he stepped into the kitchen and flicked on the light. The glow illuminated a stack of papers Eden had left on the table — court documents, maps, and a worn folder with tabs labeled in Eden’s neat handwriting.He ran his fingers over the edge of the folder, but his thoughts were already outside,