s were the hammer blow that shatte

, escaped her lips. It was

mbers of despair. "I was carrying your child, Julian. Where wer

re, they were now glaciers. He reached into the inner pocket of h

them to her.

, damning images. Chloe and a man, standing outside a restaurant. The angle

found it was almost physical. "You dare mentio

brother, Aedan. A doctor. She had been asking him for advice, desperat

ks like," she began, he

f, his voice a blade. "I do

ssion unreadable. "Write her a che

ny both froze, st

ad shared. "I'm giving you this money not because you deserve it," he said, each word a car

He had already judged and condemned her. Thi

week

e the mirror, her hand trembling as she held the smal

zying, terrifying wave. After three years of empty hope, of

ise. A real one. Something to brid

The ultrasound, a grainy black-and-white image of a tiny, flick

lope, tucked away in her purse. She planned to give i

ulian, standing there as Harmony clung to his arm, a united front against her. Her he

usekeeper. A satisfied, triumphant smile spread across her fa

ulian's side, her eyes, full of v

he pen, his signature a series of sharp, angry slashes o

," he co

million dollars. Not compensation. Hush money.

t clumsy, disconnected from her body. She stared at the

She would not give them the s

her name-Chloe Turner-the loops and lines

e table. It clattered lou

folded it once, and sli

d, at the woman who had destroyed her, at the

d out of

living room, through the grand foyer, and towards the sweeping staircase. H

until she disappeared from view, and an unfamiliar, deeply unsettling irritation coil

her voice cloying. "Jules,

yes remained fixed on the empty

was all