ter, she heard

om, wrapped in a robe, her earlier resolve still hum

ow murmur of voices echo through the fo

as draped in a pale cashmere wrap, her blonde hair falling in soft waves around her delicate face.

s mistress, framed in the doorway of her

as saying, her voice trembling just enough

had never heard it directed at herself. "I'm setting up the east gu

out of the sha

o had supposedly been weeping-met Julieta's. A flicker of something cold pas

ed. Her voice came out steady, but only because

ded on her. "Aisha is carrying my child. She needs c

nd of love. She had believed that if she just endured enough, he would eventually see her. But standing here now, watching him shield another woman with the tenderness he

onger sounded like a woman begging to be loved. She sounded like a w

eyes-not guilt, but irritat

ld have shattered Julieta entirely. Now, she watched it with something closer to clarity. This was who he was. This was wha

she walked. Her lips curved into a sma

was unmistak

k she had won. Let Denver think she was broken. The les

ng the banister, her heart pounding with a mixture of grief and a slow-burning fury she could finally name.

to climb t

ng so

d up, light and lilt

you wan

l these years. It must have been exhausting, trying so hard to make him love you. All that effort, and in th

ed on the banister until

cond to reveal something sharp and venomous beneath.

your presenc

closer. "And soon, I'll be the one living in i

rough Julieta with

ng rage that short-circuited every rational thought. Her palm connected

the side. A red mark blo

mpossibly,

ed backward, her arms flailing in a perfect pantomime of losing balance, her mou

plea

ach impact punctuated by a sickening thud that seemed to reverberate through Julieta's bones. When she

mind struggling to process what had just happened. She had struck her, yes-but Aish

door sla

ression shifting from confusion to dawning horror as hi

saw th

g into the white marble veins of the floor, staining the pale cash

de her, his hands hovering over her still

nd ragged. She looked up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks, her tr

ce breaking into a sob. "Denver-our

through the foy

tching his entire world crumble in real time. Then his expressi

ooke

d, her face pale with shock. In his gaze burned something she had never

sed through her, a part of her brain was working coldly, clearly. She had seen Aisha's smile before the fall. She had seen the calculation in her eyes. Thi

oug

s though she weighed nothing, holding her against his chest with the tenderness Julieta had craved f

lm. "She was carrying my child, and you pushed her dow

ny that-but I did not push her. She f

at should have been for their marriage but was entirely, completely for her. "There is something

ar of loneliness and turning it septic. Now, she felt them land and recognized them for what they were: the words of a man

divorce,

the silence like sto

y. They had crystallized as she watched him guide Aisha into their home. They had become absolu

stiffened. For a long, suspende

flat and absolute. "You don't get to walk away from t

ding anything.

of his profile, the muscle jumping in his jaw. "You will stay in this house. You will not leave. Y

t keep me

doors slammed

hat followed

er side. Then, deliberately, she sat down on the top step. She did not collapse. She di

e only thing. Beside it, something else was growing: a cold, steady resolve. She would find a way out of this hous

om. She closed the door behind her with a quiet c