SERENA POV
She laughed at something he said.
I heard it through the wall at eleven o'clock at night. It was a clear, warm, and genuine laugh. It was the sound of a woman who was exactly where she wanted to be.
I sat on the edge of my bed with my hands in my lap, staring at the wall. I told myself to stop listening, but I couldn't. The walls in the east wing were old, and the guest suite was right next to my room. There was nothing I could do about the architecture.
Then I heard his voice. It was low. I couldn't make out the words, just the shape of it, the specific tone I had spent years trying to forget. Her voice came again, closer to the wall this time.
I stood up and went into the bathroom. I turned on the tap and sat on the floor with my back against the bathtub. The sound of the
