closet. It was her escape hatch. The hatred radiating from Clark and Kath

. As she passed the guest suite, she heard the muffled

pping, but a few words, sharp

lark! She hates me! She w

ly lit hallway, her hand

kicking you out. I'm here. I'll always protect you." A beat of silence, t

formed in Anabel's thro

osecutor's demand. "Is that it? You've fallen in love

found herself holding her breath, a m

ehement. "How could you even think that?" Ther

oming sly and insinuating. "Then why, Clark? It's be

lenched violently. It was the deepest shame of her marriage, a

tretched on, thick and suffocating

ice was low, intense, and carried

r touched he

pau

near whisper, raw with a twisted kind of d

myself

ed composure, dissolved. The victory over the painting, the s

om her was an act of fidelity to another woman. She was a t

ing back down the hallway, away from th

re she was sick, retching until there w

finance. But in the war for her ow

around herself. The vow spoken behind that door had finally, irrevocab