The silence she left behind was complete.

Elena’s legs gave out for the second time that day. She sat down hard on the nearest stool and put both hands over her face. The panic that had been building since the linen closet now had nowhere to go. It just sat in her chest and shook. Marcus moved to the front door, locked it, then came back and stood in front of her without touching her. The careful space between them felt different now that Victoria was gone—less like performance, more like the first raw attempt at existing in the house with the secret fully exposed and no one left to...