than Caldwell was

, a silhouette against

er, but lately, his prot

e Chloe Ashton, her stepsi

when it fell o

it was a

hired for safety had become her tormen

always l

ht she found him, a li

apartment in a less-than-perfect part

hose canvases breathed

, and sometimes, a

ding – a jiggled doorknob, footsteps in th

r's legacy, a small trust fund, and

alley she usually avoided, a shortcut after

t a grimy wall, face

ke he'd lost

uld hurry past

ely. He was too still, too int

d asked, her voice sma

ed at her with eyes that se

d help? The

hake of

could stop them, she said, "I need someon

r then, a long,

a rasped,

she'd said, a blush creeping up her ne

silence. Th

ntered her life. He never told h

ith a silent efficiency that was

room, barely more than a

s, his presence a solid barrier

herself dr

in the mornings, leavi

rt, her mother, the vibrant art s

ut he listened. Or

the apartment, a focused intensity she misto

re. It was easy to project

ture professor lost in his own grie

a woman Ava instinctively di

Linda c

younger than Ava, pretty in a

innocent, a master of the soft

into their lives, she sensed

ing gleam that Ava, in her naivety, dismissed. Chloe saw Ethan n

s insidious,

ne of those stilted affairs Arthu

d, and Ava was trying to draw Ethan into

an, "accidentally" knock

, a small, cheap, brightly

crumpled. "Oh

her fingers tracin

hed tears. "It reminds me of... of a time I was brave. A l

glistening. "He had a whistle, someth

toic fixture in Ava's l

the cheap whistl

w Ethan carried something, a small, carved wooden o

ared quiet, about looking for someone from

e as if she held the k

than's voice w

tracing a path down her chee

night, Eth

once a comforting shield

apped aro

Ava cooled, became di

cely protective. He believed he ha

ns started sma

ed innocence, was an ar

f large canvases inspired by her mother's unfinis

g" Ava in the stu

precariously placed

ough weeks of Ava's

stration, "Chloe! Lo

y. "Oh, Ava, I'm so sorry! It w

t. He didn't look at the rui

illing. "Ava. Apologize to

She ruined m

ed, his eyes like chips of stone

by his coldness, felt th

shift in affection.

ng. Chloe, in ridiculously high heels, "tripped"

her knee, a

Ethan with wide, hurt eyes, subtly implying A

orbed in thought, a

restigious art internship, one she'd pinned her h

heart. Ethan's reach, she was beginning to underst

ffectively, for every perceived s

ing built, bar