The bonfire crackled, sending sparks into the velvet black sky of the private island. It was their last night. Tomorrow, the Gulfstream would take them back to New York, back to the noise, the responsibilities, and the lives they had rebuilt.Noah stood by the fire, holding the bottle in one hand and a lighter in the other."It's from her," Noah said. His voice was tight. "I know it. The stationery. The theatrics. It's a bomb, Aria. And if we open it, we let the shrapnel in."Aria sat on a driftwood log, wrapped in a blanket. Liam was asleep in her lap, a warm, heavy weight against the cool ocean breeze."But if we burn it," Aria said softly, "we'll never know. And not knowing is worse.""Is it?" Noah asked. He looked at the bottle. "She’s in prison, Aria. She can't hurt us anymore. Unless we let her.""She's not trying to hurt us," Aria said. She didn't know why she was so sure, but the instinct that had guided her through the last year hummed in her chest. "She said she had one last
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