art of me had already sensed things with Marcus were unraveling faster than either of us admitted out loud. I tha

the lock with fingers gone stiff from the cold, and p

athe. My hand found my stomach before I'd even decided to move it there, and some

mil

it wasn't as gentle. My child would grow up never knowing who his father was. I stood there with that settling over me, and I d

et sleep take me faste

ng sunlight across the ceilin

her silver hair pinned the way it always was, her

do this," I said, ta

me into the kitchen like she owned it, which

enough to sit on the counter and watch. Twenty minutes later we sat across from each other, breakfast steaming between

s and the second cup of tea that

t, then back up at

enn

't wan

at I couldn't do this entirely on my own, that five years of telling everyone I was fine had maybe been a smaller lie than the one I was about to tell myself now if I refused help I actua

ess I'd clearly inherited whether I liked it or not. "That's exactly why I'm giving it to you. You're pre

ke care o

But there's a difference between being capable and being alone, a

turned over the choice in that dining room the night before. In the end I reached

o start working, soon, so I don't need to use this for lo

. But if agreeing to that is what lets you sleep tonight, then fine. Take the time you

g a second line, right next to the one I'd drawn with Marcus, o

at his desk and found himself s

om once, then again, then a third time, each

ld contract needs your s

en other tasks waiting on him. But his hand didn't move toward the folder in front of him,

ould ask someone to check on her. Lucas, maybe, or one of the drivers who still knew her address

s own phone before he stopped it,

the last three nights, he had signed away any claim to worry about her the moment he'd told her to sign those papers. Checking on her now would mean something

Ste

the office swam

id finally.

hear the confusion in t

family's name mean something in rooms full of powerful people, he had never once been like thi

romise instead of a phone call. He would let her go, completely, the way he'd told her he wanted to.