Vivian did not want to give the key back, but under Ethan's unwavering stare, she reluctantly handed it over in the end.
"Ethan, can you let me stay by your side?" she asked softly. "I'm not asking for anything. I just want the chance to repay you."
She deliberately made herself sound humble and selfless, like someone content to quietly care for him from the shadows.
Ethan's resolve weakened almost immediately. After all, there had once been real feelings between them, and part of him still believed Vivian's ruined life traced back to him. If Professor Theodore Hart had not forced them apart in college out of fear she would distract Ethan from his studies, perhaps none of it would have happened. Vivian would not have dropped out, rushed into a miserable marriage, divorced so quickly, or
