ADRIAN'S POV
I didn't sleep. Not a second.
The house was silent, but it wasn't the peaceful silence of rest-NO. It was the hollow quiet of absence. Every time I shut my eyes, I smelled bleach. Every time I clenched my hand, I felt the pearl earring burning into my palm. And every time I thought of Marissa's muffled sob-I can't do this, Mama-my chest tightened with dread.
Mother's words had wrapped around me like a vice, pressing until it was hard to breathe. She left you. She was never good for you. Selene would never-
But doubt gnawedvat me. A voice deeper in my chest whispered: What if she didn't leave?
By dawn, I couldn't take it anymore. I reached for my phone, scrolling through contacts until I landed on the number I hadn't used in weeks.
The PI.
I had hired him quietly, back w
