a P

vator before Eleanor's voic

e? From this family? You a

urn

he button, let the doors close. But the wolf in me had

silk caftan. Felicia, hovering behind her mother. Caroline, still pressing her

To beg. To apologize for

ding the product roadmap that tripled Nexus's valuation. Every funding deck that made your IPO possible had my fingerprints on it. And you erased me with a sentence over chamomile." I stepped closer. She flinched. "You are n

opened. Closed.

unemployed, and your entire personality is 'Vance's sister.' You've never built a single thing in your

t scarlet. "You ca

ust

ed at her. She s

u sit in my living room wearing my dead mother's necklace, cooing with his mother and sister like you've already moved in." I let the silence stretch. "You're not independent. You're not classy. You're a woman who collects other people's husbands

e performative tears turned

y voice cracked like

should have hurt the most. It

them in the sand, and your first instinct tonight was to tell me to stop making a scene." I stepped into his space. He didn't retreat, but I saw the flicker. "You

or

edged with something that made the wolf in

ts, my past. You never did. Not once. You married a stranger and kept her that way." I held his gaze.

e in the foyer was absolut

elt the old posture, the soldier's stance, the offic

ked the urn tighter against my chest. "I'm walking out of this house tonight. What happens after that is between my lawyer and yours. And Vance?" I let his name si

to the elevator.

e's voice. Smalle

pened. I st

aced and sputtering. Caroline, weeping into her palms. Vance, standing in the middle of

oors

f in me stretched, long and slow, like a creatur