Semua Bab MY HUSBAND LOVED ME TOO LATE: Bab 11 - Bab 20

The lights were still out.Emma stood by the window. Her hands were cold. Rain hit the glass in hard little bursts. She counted her own breaths to stay calm.Then she saw headlights sweep across the driveway.Victor's car."No," she whispered. "Not now."Lucas came down the stairs two at a time. He had a flashlight in his hand. The beam jumped across the walls."Emma. Stay behind me.""He can't just walk in here.""He's my father. He has a key."Emma's stomach dropped. She had forgotten that. A key meant no locked door could stop him. Not tonight. Not ever, really.The front door opened before anyone reached it. Victor stepped inside, calm, like he owned the house. Rain dripped off his coat and onto the hardwood floor."Sad about the power," he said. "Should I call someone? Or is that already... handled?"Lucas raised the flashlight so it hit his father's face. "Why are you here, Victor?""I heard Sophia had a rough night." Victor smiled. "I came to see how my son's wife is doing. Is

The car's engine faded into the wet dark.Emma let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "It's gone.""For now," Henry said. He didn't lower his guard. His eyes stayed fixed on the empty street a moment longer, like he expected the car to circle back.Lucas's phone buzzed in his hand. He looked down at the screen, and his face changed."It's Margaret's number," he said."Answer it," Emma said. Her chest had already gone tight, before she even knew why.Lucas picked up. "Grandma? It's late, is everything"He stopped.Emma watched his face drain of color."Say that again," Lucas said, his voice suddenly sharp.Emma stepped closer. "Lucas. What is it?"He pulled the phone from his ear. His hand was shaking."Lily's not in her bed," he said. "The night nurse checked on her ten minutes ago. She's gone."The floor seemed to tilt under Emma's feet."Gone where?" she said. "She's eight. She doesn't just leave the house.""The window in her room was open," Lucas said, phone still sh

Emma was already moving.She left Margaret standing in the hallway and ran for the stairs, her heart slamming against her ribs. Margaret's secret would have to wait."Claire!" Lucas's voice thundered from the dining room below.Emma reached the bottom of the stairs just as Lucas burst through the doorway, his face white."What happened?" Emma demanded."It's Sophia." Lucas's voice shook. "Come. Now."Emma followed him into the dining room. The table had been shoved sideways, a wine glass shattered across the floor, dark red pooling beneath the shards like blood. A chair lay tipped on its side. The soufflé Margaret had been so proud of sat forgotten and collapsing on the sideboard.Claire stood frozen by the window, both hands pressed over her mouth, tears streaming down her face.Sophia was on the floor.She lay curled on her side near the sideboard, one hand clutching her stomach, her breathing shallow and fast. Her lips had gone pale, almost gray. Her legs kicked weakly against the

The hospital hallway smelled of antiseptic and old coffee. Emma walked fast, Henry beside her, her heels clicking against the tiled floor. Lucas had called ahead. By the time they arrived, he was already there, pacing outside Sophia's room like a man who hadn't slept in days."She's awake," Lucas said the second he saw Emma. "The nurse says she's talking.""Good," Emma said. "Then she can tell us the truth.""Emma." Lucas caught her arm before she could push past him. "Go easy. She just came back from the edge of dying.""I'm not planning to interrogate her, Lucas. I just want answers.""I know how you get when you want answers."Emma pulled her arm free, choosing not to argue further, and stepped through the door with Henry close behind.Sophia lay propped against a pile of pillows, an IV taped to the back of her hand, a monitor beeping steady beside her bed. Her skin was pale, her lips still faintly gray, but the moment her eyes landed on Lucas, something in her face softened, trans

The elevator doors were closing when Sophia slipped through them, her hospital blanket abandoned somewhere behind her, her IV line unhooked like she'd never really needed it in the first place."Lucas," she said, breathless, catching his arm before he could turn away. "Don't let her walk away like this. Not in front of that man."Lucas didn't answer right away, his eyes still fixed on the closed elevator doors, on the space where Emma had just disappeared."You know how it looks," Sophia went on, softer now, her voice curling around him like smoke. "A married woman, alone with another man at midnight. People will talk, Lucas. Your family's name will be dragged through it.""She was helping me," Lucas said, though the words came out uncertain, like he wasn't fully convinced of them himself."I'm sure she was." Sophia's hand slid down his arm, resting lightly on his wrist. "But you should still say something. Set boundaries. A wife shouldn't be riding around with old admirers this late,