From Ruin to Radiance

anniversary, Nora Payne and Ethan St

t a club until after midnight, an

ora's lips trembled. "Ethan,

meared with lipstick prints. "After all th

ddened. Of cou

boy, drifting from woman to woman, day and night. No respectab

een like this. She had personally witnesse

his wife, he treated her with courtesy, gran

n to indulge every appetite, turning cold toward Nora. Sh

ss kept a small hope alive ins

luxury cars in his garage and be

ed photographs of Ethan and the fema

a striking resemblance to his first love, a woman dead f

inging sunlight nothing beside the pain of seeing him pressed against an

Ethan stepped down, his usual careless

don't do it in front of me! I bought this bus. You have no authority here

flared in

he vehicle was empty except for the driver,

Nora saw the woma

she forced it down. "Ethan, sna

d at Nora. "Ethan, is that Miss Payne? I re

urned bloodshot. He stared at

t was

osalyn's name had been forbidden, yet he condemned her on the strength of a sing

been dead

ng out like

ing the metal door with a hollow clang. The blow

and to her, no matter h

othing more than a

agony leeching her streng

nd in the haze she

n had grown

y, brilliant and dazzling, while she, raised

found him co

g changed e

t in terror, yet Ethan stayed calm, even comf

ck through the freezing night,

art was eas

ame her shyness, presented a homemad

n replied with distant politeness. "I'

stabbed

l beside him; she believed the

d to the floor. "Ethan, I won't pester yo

ed, so

ry she finally saw t

it that when Rosalyn Harper smiled,

ith a tenderness Nor

ned; she turned a

y her love, Rosalyn jumped

ssion, some sai

an looked hollow,

ra followed him,

rriage, she believed her devotion h

restrained, yet granted her

ilt that way, and if she could st

urned ice cold, flaunted his loath

loved gnawed at her until she dou

her onto a stretcher, No

white dressed woman, neve

vein, and darkness