phin

ready there, leaning against his black sedan. A sto

?" he asked, his tone laced with a r

here?" I asked, my voice

spital," he said, the lie rolling off his tong

his skin touch mine, feeling nothing but a

ntirely separate from the fresh hell of my marriage. As I placed the fl

ut you have Damian. He'll take care of yo

he irony twisted in my gut like a blade. I looked from the headstones

. I will fin

Damian drove. With me and Isabella in the back seat, he took her sugg

nto an easy, nostalgic conversation about the restaurant, their travels, their shared past. I was a ghost in

e menu to Isabella. Flustered, she quickly pa

that. It's raw fish. Have you

"You don't look four months along," she

ndered straight into a server's cart. Everything slowed. A tureen of steaming soup launch

cond, Damian's i

me. He didn't shie

the scalding liquid seared across my arm and side. The pain was immediat

Isabella, horrified, was pushing hi

nic I'd never seen. He was oblivious to the stares, to my own inj

th an emotion he had ne

y heart, Seraphina will nev

r not at my injury, but at his monstrous confession. She stare