Chapter 1

Elena’s POV.

My backpack slammed down onto the hardwood floor with a heavy thud that echoed through the quiet house as I shoved the front door shut behind me, my eyes all swollen and burning from the nonstop crying that had wrecked me the whole way home on that crowded bus.

My whole damn body trembling hard from the leftover fever that still had me sweating under my clothes and this bone-deep exhaustion that made my legs feel like they might give out any second.

Richard was right there in the living room coming out of his home office, wearing those loose lounge pants that hung low on...