The Same Coin

VIVIENNE~•~Elena sat back down beside me and folded her hands on the table like she hadn't just lit her whole life on fire in front of a judge, and I couldn't stop shaking.She'd done that for me. For Liam. She'd stood up in open court and put every bit of it on her own back so the word "tampering" would never touch Damon or me, and the worst part, the part I couldn't breathe around, was that I'd helped her hold those records. I'd kept the copy. I was every bit as in it as she was, and she'd just made sure the whole world would never know."Counsel, both of you sit." Okafor took her glasses off and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I've heard enough for one morning."The whole room went still."Mr. Ackerman, your motion to strike is granted. The evaluation's gone. I can't trust a report that came out of an improper contact, and I won't pretend otherwise." She set the glasses back down. "But before your client gets comfortable, let me say what I watched happen on that stand."William s

Last Updated : 2026-06-24

Like Daddy Did

VIVIENNE~•~"Mommy!"Liam came barreling down the hall the second I got the door open, and he hit my legs and grabbed on with both arms, and for a minute I just stood there holding onto my kid and trying to remember how to breathe."Did you win? Did you talk to the judge?" He tipped his head all the way back to look up at me. "Marco let me have two ice creams and said I couldn't come, but I drew you a picture. You wanna see it?"I got down on my knees right there on the floor and took his face in both hands."Listen to me, baby. You're staying right here. With me. Nobody is taking you anywhere, not ever, you hear me? It's done. It's over.""For real real?""For real real. I promise you."He threw both arms around my neck and squeezed so hard it hurt, and over the top of his head I saw Damon standing in the kitchen doorway, watching the two of us. The second my eyes hit his, he looked away."Liam, go wash up," Damon said. "Dinner's almost ready.""Mommy says nobody's taking me!" Liam

Last Updated : 2026-06-25

Together

DAMON~•~"Are you gonna leave too? Like Daddy did?"I had the answer. It was one word and I'd have given it to anybody else without a second of thought. *No.* I'd built my whole life on saying the hard thing first and watching people scramble after it.I couldn't get it out of my mouth.Because the word he wanted was *forever*, and three hours ago his mother stood in a marble hallway and told me she'd been lying to me for weeks, and I didn't know anymore if the thing I'd promised this kid was a thing two grown people could keep. I wasn't going to hand him a *forever* and then break it down the middle in front of him. He'd already had one man do that.So I got down on one knee by the bed, and I gave him what I had that was true."You see me here, buddy?"He nodded, his chin still going."I'm here right now. I checked your closet tonight, same as every night." I pulled the blanket back up over him. "You ever known me to skip one?""No." It came out wet. "But that's not forever."Six ye

Last Updated : 2026-06-29

The Bait

VIVIENNE~•~I woke up before the alarm and lay there a minute trying to remember which ceiling I was looking at.That's what the size of this place did to me now. We'd been gone long enough that the house had gone back to feeling like a stranger, all that room around the bed, the dark sitting in corners too far away to reach. At Elena's the kitchen and the living room were one room and I could hear Liam breathing from anywhere I stood. Here there was a whole hallway before I got anywhere, then the stairs, then more house under that, quiet and polished and waiting on me to remember how to live in it.We'd come back two days ago, once the custody fight was done. No hearing left to win, nobody left to run from on that front, so there was no reason to keep hiding at Elena's. Damon had the cars loaded and brought us home, back to the big house where all of it started. I'd spent the first night awake just getting used to it again.I came down to the smell of toast and the sound of my son a

Last Updated : 2026-07-01

The Papers

VIVIENNE~•~It had been two days since I fed Inez the lie, and nothing had happened yet.I kept thinking something would. I gave her exactly what Damon told me to give her. After that, nothing. Liam went to school and came back. Inez made his lunches. Everyone was polite. And the longer it stayed calm, the more worried I got, because I knew it wasn't really calm. We were just waiting.So when the doorbell rang a little after two, with Liam at school and no one home but the two of us, I already had a bad feeling.Inez went for the door first. She was closer, and getting the door was her job, but the second she reached for it I wanted her nowhere near it."I've got it," I said, too quick.She turned and looked at me."I've got it," I said again, slower this time. "Go finish the kitchen."She let go of the handle and went. I waited until she was gone, then I opened the door.A man was standing there. Regular guy, kind of tired-looking, holding a big envelope and a clipboard."Vivienne L

Last Updated : 2026-07-03

Marry Me

Vivienne POV~•~I got back from Liam’s room into the room Damon and I shared. I could feel him state me down as I changed, almost as if he would’ve had me there if I said the word.“What are you staring at?” I asked, cold.“It’s just that, wow,” He muttered, “you’ve never actually done this before, I mean, changing your dress right in front of me.” “Well, it’s not like this is your first time seeing me naked,” I rolled my eyes, “so don’t act surprised.”I was about turning around before I felt Damon grip my hand way too tight for comfort.“W-what are your doing?” I asked, unsure of what this was. “I know what you want to say so you don’t have to bother with it.”“Vivienne,” Damon whispered, changing his tone. “I’m tired of the back and forth, I am. Look, it’s about time I told you something but I have to be sure that you’re gonna listen to me.”“And what might that be Damon? What the hell is it gonna be exactly that isn’t going to land us in a twisted back and forth again? You—““I

Last Updated : 2026-07-07