ous smile I hoped looked genuine.

cheek. "Alwa

remained a mask of weary affection. I had to k

mother' s inheritance delivered his report two days later. A plain bro

nders wa

n a beach in Santorini with a handsome, dark-haired man. The date stamp on

e had faked her death to esc

mily' s reaction, of Ethan' s possessi

er true love, a struggling musician her famil

tered, fractured into

the impending theft of my kidney and womb – all for a w

s revenge, it was all built on a lie. A

en I barely recognized it. It was absurd. My life, des

He wanted to humiliate me. I would give him

he sterile space with a cloying sweetness. Jewelry boxes containing di

y and meaningless. I managed a f

rimace of pain my excuse. "Still sore," I murmured. His

furrowed with feigned concern. "You ne

n't have children again... after all this... what will we d

"Don't you worry about that, Elara. We'll have a whole brood of chi

asual cruelty of his reassurance was a fresh stab of pain. H

the children' s rosebush again? Just once more?" The one he'd planted in the hos

"Of course, my love

than on the phone in the adjoining suite

, not in any sentimental place. A

ed, lis

anting the hospital did. She thinks

ashes. Scattered in a landfill

y misplaced hope that there was a