skin. The screen flashed a single, terrifying message: SOS. I was running before I even processed it, my h

froze in f

down in the deep end of the p

water, her phone in her hand, a glass of wi

ing? It' s Leo!" I scream

er expression one of

again, Liam. He' s tr

ve into the water, the cold shock doing nothing to numb the terror. I

small chest, trying to force air into his lungs. Water trickle

headache crashed over me. I held my son' s lifeles

the memo

ream, but in a vio

s, the metallic taste of blood. Waking up in a hospital r

a mask of concern. She hel

soft and convincing. "You' re my fiancé. We have a s

ks leaning over me. Dozens of them. Nearly a hundred procedures, each one a painful step in sculpt

with the force of

is not L

Noah M

ge certificate... I remembered seeing it once, tucked away in her drawer. The name on it was Liam

wed up. Jessica had called him a cousin, a distant relative. But I saw the way

in the pool. He didn' t fall. He did it on purpose, to expose the lie. And Jessica... she knew h

y with a Bang, Buying Out the Entire Collection at the Starlight Auction." The article featured a photo of he

he grief, crystallizing it into something sharp and dangerous. I cradle

e was clear. I scrolled through the contacts, past the name

up on the s

alright? Jessica isn'

iety. She was always anxious. Now I kne

dering breath, the

ice empty of all emotion.

of breath on the other

d, my voice flat and dead. "Leo is d

ughing face of the woman on my phone screen, the woman who