Vivienne
The Ashworth estate looked exactly the same as it had three years ago, the same iron gates, the same manicured hedges trimmed into shapes that had always felt more like a cage than an actual home, but I walked through those gates now as someone entirely different than the woman who once tiptoed through them trying not to disturb her mother's careful arrangements.
Roman walked beside me, his hand resting against the small of my back, not guiding me forward but simply staying close enough that I could feel his presence anchoring me, and I was grateful for it, because facing Margaret again required a steadiness I wasn't entirely certain I possessed on my own.
We found her in the sunroom, sitting with a cup of tea she hadn't touched, and the moment she saw us together, her express
