CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
I walk away without knowing where I’m going.
My feet carry me down a narrow path at the edge of the island. The farther I move from the house, the quieter it gets.
The air smells like flowers. The ocean stretches endlessly ahead of me, calm and beautiful, like nothing ugly has ever happened here.
The contrast makes my chest ache.
None of this feels right.
This marriage.
This life.
It feels like a mistake I’m paying for every single day.
Why am I the one being punished?
I didn’t kill Steve. I never asked Hardin to do anything. I didn’t plan violence. And yet I’m the one carrying the weight of it all. The fear. The consequences.
Or maybe I’m the only one who feels anything at all.
I hear footsteps behind me.
“Amelia.”
He calls my name, but I don’t turn ar
