th a hollow core. It was loud, fake, and it promised a dream that always seemed to leave someone broken in

Cole had told me back in the clinic. "But Ava, the best options,

ers I didn't have. My bank account was an extension of Liam's

e wide and predatory. Liam stood beside her in the photo, his arm around her waist, looking more alive than I' d seen him in years. I felt

eard directed at me in forever. He leaned in, whispering in her ear, his hand possessively on the small of her back. This was the pass

was approaching. It was a day we always spent together, a pilgrimage back

lled

home next weekend,"

n't. I hav

and Dad, Liam.

go anoth

nited in me. "No. I'm going. You can either be there, or

noise on his end, a faint giggle. Scarlett. "Fine," he

stranger. I heard his voice, the way he said "baby" to her, and the sound shattered something i

raced the line of Liam's jaw. "She's such a dra

plicated,

"You just have to choose." She wanted to replace me comp

ht of me, of my quiet sadness, my constant reminders of a past he

posed to meet me at our house. An hour after he

about your husband, Liam.

rash, the voice said. He was be

, my mind a blank panic. Despite everything,

otic scene. And then I saw him. He was sitting on a gurney

arms wrapped around him, w

t fears, developed in harsh, fluorescent light

y, unseen, and fled