“Yes,” I confirmed. “The video call too.”
Helena grinned.
“Good.”
Weekends had slowly become our small tradition of catching up with the people who had supported us through the years. Tomorrow we would call Gwen and Aster.
Gwen was still with Zayn, and what they had seemed stronger now than it had been when we all lived in Washington. Over the years, their relationship had grown solid, a love that survived distance, change, and all the ordinary pressures of life. Recently, she had told me they were planning a spring wedding.
Aster remained true to herself, independent, sharp, and unwilling to give her heart to anyone who did not meet her fully. She had dated over the years, a few relationships serious and others sparked only because Gwen insisted she should “try being emotionally available for once,” but no one had ever convinced her that her own version of Prince Charming was not still out there.
They had both become my lifeline after I moved to London, and even across continents, their support never felt far away.
Helena slipped her small hand into mine as we began walking home.
“And Aunt Gwen said she will show me wedding dresses,” she said proudly.
“She did?”
“Yes. She said I can help choose.”
“That’s a very important job.”
Helena nodded with deep seriousness.
“I know.”
I smiled despite myself. Life had grown stable here. Beyond the distant voices of my friends across the ocean, I had built a circle of support in London as well. Giselle had been part of that from the beginning.
She had been married for three years now. Her husband was the CEO of a large company, and together they had built a life that looked settled from the outside, busy schedules, late dinners, shared plans, and a home that carried both of them in every room.
Sometimes I wondered if I would ever have something like that again. The thought never stayed for long, because whenever it came, one name followed. Hayden. The man who now sat in the dean’s office of the university where I worked.
I tightened my hold on Helena’s hand as we walked toward my car, reminding myself that he had no right to enter every cornerof my mind just because he had entered my city. For tonight, I had Helena’s small fingers wrapped around mine, the familiar streets around us, and a life that existed beyond everything he had once broken.
Tomorrow, for a few hours, the world would become simple again. A video call with Gwen and Aster, laughter through the screen, Helena holding up her newest drawings with pride. It was a small happiness, ordinary and fragile in the way the best things often are, and I intended to protect it for as long as I could.
Chapter Five
Hayden
Thebuildingemptiedslowly.Universities always carry a strange stillness after evening settles in, a weight that feels heavier than simple silence. Footsteps fade down hallways, office lights blink off one by one, and the faint murmur of conversation disappears until only the distant hum of heating systems remains.
I stayed. The dean’s office had already grown familiar in the few hours I had occupied it, though the polished desk and tidy shelves still carried the faint impersonality of someone else’s order. Papers sat stacked in neat administrative folders, each one representing a life that had intersected with the university in one way or another.
One of them sat open in front of me.
Edwina Rhodes.
I leaned back in the chair, staring down at the file again as if the information printed there might rearrange itself into something easier to understand. It didn’t. My fingers tapped slowly against the desk as my eyes moved over the same line again.
Marital Status
Blank. No checkmark beside married. No spouse listed anywhere in the documentation. Just an empty box.
I exhaled slowly through my nose.
“So what the fuck happened to you, Edwina?”
