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I remained pressed against the door, staring up at it.

“Okay…” I whispered.

Because apparently Chalis nearly choking to death on my porch wasn’t enough weird shit for one morning.

Silence met my question.

“Lakelyn!”

I jumped as Willow came flying down the grand staircase, her laptop tucked under one arm and her headset dangling around her collarbone. Her eyes were wide with pure amusement.

“What in the world is happening out there?” she questioned, stopping at the bottom landing. “I heard you yelling at the top of your lungs, and then some man started screeching outside like he got his zipper caught in his skin!”

I couldn’t help the sudden, breathless laugh that escaped my mouth. “Willow, please.”

“No, for real! Who was that screaming?”

“It was Chalis.”

Willow’s entire face twisted into disgust. “What was his dusty ass doing here?”

“He came by to ‘check on us’ after the fire,” I said, using air quotes. “Wanted to know how Granny was doing, asked about Kaidence, asked if I had a man, and then tried to pitch taking me to dinner.”

Willow stared at me in utter disbelief before letting out a loud, theatrical cackle. “The audacity! Did you remind him that we have homeowners insurance and self-respect?”

I chuckled.

“I told him I’d rather eat dirt,” I said, walking toward the living room window. “And then he had the nerve to open his mouth and disrespect Caspian.”

Willow’s laughter died instantly. “What did he say?”

“Said Caspian could be in a ditch and that I was stupid for holding onto a ghost.”

Willow’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, hell no. Caspian may not be around to defend himself, but his sister-in-law is still very much on duty when it comes to disrespect.”

“His woman doesn’t play about him either,” I added. “I slapped Chalis so hard, that nigga had to rethink the whole conversation.”

Willow’s mouth fell open before a grin spread across her face. “See, now that’s family participation. But wait. You really slapped him?!”

“Sure the hell did,” I said, nodding proudly. “You don’t talk about my man. Missing or not, you better watch your mouth when you say his name.”

It had been six years, but time hadn’t changed where my heart belonged. Caspian was still the man I loved, so damn right I still considered myself his woman.

Truthfully, even when I was with Yonas, some part of me had always felt that way. I cared about Yonas deeply, but if Caspian had walked through my door at any point during those two years that Yonas and I were together, with a legitimate reason for why he’d disappeared and why he hadn’t been able to come back, there wouldn’t have been some long, drawn-out decision for me to make. I wouldn’t have needed a few days to think, weigh my options, or figure out which man I wanted. I would’ve ended things with Yonas as respectfully as I could, packed whatever needed packing, and gone straight back to Caspian.

Maybe that wasn’t fair to Yonas, but it was the truth.

Yonas had been part of the life I built after Caspian disappeared; Caspian was still the man I had built that life around in the first place.

“Period, sis! But why didn’t you call me down here?! I would’ve brought popcorn and recorded that shit for the group chat!”

“Because I was trying to keep him from stepping inside!” I moved the sheer curtain aside, peering out toward the front drive. “But that wasn’t the only crazy thing that happened. The nigga choking like something had him by the throat. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t talk… his eyes were damn near bulging out of his head.”

Willow frowned, walking over to stand beside me. “Choking on what? His own lies?”

I chuckled. “Possibly. All I know, he was gasping for air, and then his car engine popped, and the whole front end caught fire.”

Willow looked through the glass just as another plume of thick gray smoke rolled from beneath the hood of Chalis’s black Bentley Continental GT, the kind of flashy car that matched his whole image perfectly, and one he clearly spent too much money on to watch it go up in smoke in somebody else’s driveway.