جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 60

IvyThe days that followed were heavy and quiet. Dorian barely spoke and he barely ate and he spent most of his time in his study staring at the letters and the photographs and the pieces of a puzzle that would not come together.I stayed with him and I held his hand and I made sure he ate something and I tried to be patient.But I was angry too.His father had known about Mary Vale. He had known about the threats and the danger and the secrets. And he had never said a word.He had let Dorian grow up alone and unaware and unprotected.I found Marcus in the kitchen one morning and he was drinking coffee and looking through old files."Anything new?" I asked.He shook his head and said no."Mary Vale is a ghost," he said. "She has covered her tracks completely. No bank accounts and no credit cards and no phone records. It is like she never existed."I sat down across from him and asked if there was anything else we could do.Marcus was quiet for a moment and then he spoke."There is one

IvyWe sat in the garden until the stars came out and the moon rose high in the sky. Dorian did not speak and I did not push him. He needed time to process everything and I was willing to wait.Sofia was gone and Mary Vale was dead and the mystery was finally solved. But the answers had not brought peace. They had only brought more pain.Dorian stood up and walked to the fountain and stared at the water."All those years," he said and his voice was hollow. "All those years I thought my mother was a victim. I thought she was innocent. I thought she was the one who suffered."I walked toward him and asked what he meant.He turned to face me and his eyes were dark."She started the fire," he said. "My mother started the fire that destroyed Clara's life. She was jealous and angry and she did something terrible and she spent the rest of her life trying to make up for it."I took his hand and told him that did not make her a bad person."It makes her human," I said. "She made a mistake. A t

IvyI woke up to find Dorian standing by the window with a piece of paper in his hand and his face was pale and his hands were shaking and I knew something was wrong.I sat up and asked what happened and he turned to look at me with rough voice."Daniel Cross was here," he said. "He was standing in the garden and he left this."He handed me the paper and I read the words and my heart stopped."I am Daniel."I looked up at Dorian and my voice was shaking."He found us," I said. "He knows where we live."Dorian nodded and walked toward the bed and his face was hard."He has been watching me," he said. "At the casino and at the estate and everywhere. He has been planning this for a long time."I got out of bed and walked toward him and took his hand."What do we do?" I asked.Dorian was quiet for a moment and then he spoke and his voice was steady."We find him," he said. "We find him before he finds us."I nodded and said I would help.We spent the rest of the day searching for Daniel C

IvyThe weeks that followed were quiet and peaceful and for the first time in months I felt like I could breathe.Dorian was different now. Softer and lighter and more present. He laughed more and he smiled more and he held my hand when we walked through the garden. The weight of the past was finally lifting from his shoulders.Marcus was different too. He had started dating someone and he was happier than I had ever seen him. He hummed while he worked and he brought flowers to the kitchen and he talked about the future with hope in his eyes.I was different as well. I had stopped flinching when someone touched me and I had stopped looking over my shoulder and I had stopped waiting for something terrible to happen. I was learning to trust the peace.One morning I woke up to the smell of pancakes and coffee and I smiled before I even opened my eyes. Dorian was already out of bed and I could hear him in the kitchen with Marcus and they were laughing about something.I got dressed and wa

IvyI stared at Elena and felt the world tilt beneath my feet.Daniel had taken Clara. He had walked into the hospital and he had walked out with a woman who had been in a coma for thirty years and no one had stopped him."How is that possible?" I asked. "She is in a coma. She cannot walk. She cannot move. How did he take her?"Elena's face was pale and her hands were shaking and her voice was broken."He had help," she said. "He had people waiting outside. They took her on a stretcher and they loaded her into an ambulance and they drove away."Dorian stepped forward and his face was hard and his voice was cold."Did anyone see where they went?" he asked.Elena shook her head and said no."Daniel planned this," she said. "He planned everything. He came to you and he pretended to make peace but he was just buying time."Dorian's jaw tightened and his eyes were dark."Buying time for what?" he asked.Elena looked at him and her voice was barely a whisper."For revenge," she said. "He is