THE LOVE YOU DESTROYED

THE CHOICE I COULDN'T UNDO

The rain had slowed to a drizzle by the time I reached the edge of town, but my mind was still caught in that looping moment — Nathaniel’s voice in my ear, his hand briefly covering mine as he pressed the photograph into my palm.

“Don’t show it to anyone else. Not yet.”

I had tucked the picture back into its envelope and placed it on the seat beside me, but it felt heavier than any piece of paper had a right to be. My eyes kept flicking toward it, like I was expecting it to move, to speak, to force me to decide.

A streetlamp flickered as I pulled into the narrow alley behind my apartment building. I killed the engine and sat in the darkness, listening to the ticking of the cooling metal. Every instinct screamed to burn the photo, shred it, do something before Ryan discovered I had it.

But another thought crept in.

If Nathaniel was right, that photo wasn’t just a piece of evidence. It was leverage. And in a house where Ryan held all the power, leverage was the only way to breathe.

I reached for the envelope—

A sharp knock on my window made me jump. My heart slammed against my ribs.

I turned, and for one disorienting second, I thought it was Nathaniel. Same dark coat. Same unshakable stillness.

But when the figure leaned down into the faint light, I froze.

It was Daniel Hayes. Ryan’s right-hand man.

The man who never showed up without a reason.