Chapter 265 When I visited her, she looked smaller than I remembered, Exhausted and haunted. “You’re here to decide my fate?” she asked quietly. “No,” I said. “The court will do that p> She gave a tired smile. “I told you I’d accept it p> “I know p> 6/9 +25

Chapter 264 CMWMBB 65 AARON The news broke on a Tuesday morning. Not as a whisper. Not as speculation. But as a headline. ANDREA MARLOWE ARRESTED ON CHARGES OF KIDNAPPING, CONSPIRACY, AND UNLAWFUL SURVEILLANCE. By noon, every major outlet had picked it up. By evening, analysts were dissecting it like

Chapter 263 CMWMBB 64 CMWMBB 64 AARON “About everything p> The words hung between us: fragile and unavoidable. Venus stood by the kitchen window, sunlight cutting across her face in soft afternoon lines. Outside, the kids were still playing-George pushing Sabine too high on the swing while pretending he wasn’t

Chapter 262 CMWMBB 63 VENUS Two days later, the house was loud again. Not the sharp, fractured noise of crisis. Not the low murmur of fear that had lived inside these walls for weeks. Real noise. Children arguing over cereal. Sabine laughing too loudly at something George insisted wasn’t funny.

Chapter 261 CMWMBB 62 VENUS The drive felt endless. Every red light stretched too long. Every turn felt wrong, as if the world had shifted slightly off its axis and nothing fit the way it used to. Aaron’s security didn’t speak much as they drove me to the house where

Chapter 260 CMWMBB 61 AARON The sun was already high when I stepped out of the car. Afternoon light flooded the ridge road, bright and unforgiving, turning every detail too sharp to ignore. Dust hung in the air where tires had churned through the dirt, and the scent of hot

Chapter 259 CMWMBB 60 GABBY We didn’t stop running until the road sounds faded into nothing. Branches scraped my arms. Dry leaves cracked under my shoes. The air smelled like damp earth and something wild, something untouched by the world we’d just escaped. Iris’s breathing came in shaky bursts against

Chapter 258 CMWMBB 59 AARON The door clicked shut behind Andrea, the sound quiet but heavy enough to settle into my bones. For a second, the room felt hollow. Like all the air had been pulled out with her. Venus didn’t move immediately. She stood where I had left her,

Chapter 257 CMWMBB 58 VENUS Andrea’s gaze snapped to me the second Aaron spoke. Her lips curved slowly, chillingly. “He knows doesn’t he?” she said, almost fondly, like she’d been waiting for this moment. “You played me p> And then she started laughing. Not a normal laugh. It was unhinged.

Chapter 256 CMWMBB 57 VENUS If Aaron hadn’t come to me that night-if he hadn’t held my face in his hands and told me to trust him-I would have believed it was real. I would have believed the divorce had carved something final between us. Because after the papers were