LOGIN~ LENA ~Several minutes passed as I stood in the closet, staring at the rows of clothes, unable to make up my mind on what to wear.Hands on my hips, I wondered which outfit would be appropriate for the Fieldston Women’s Circle meeting.The question had been running through my head ever since I woke up this morning.I was surrounded by beautiful dresses… but somehow, I still couldn’t make a choice.I pulled out a cream-colored dress.Too formal. I abandoned it.A navy jumpsuit.Too casual. I abandoned it, too.I sighed, rubbing my forehead. Why had I agreed to this?I knew the answer. It was because Vivienne wouldn’t take no for an answer.She had called three times in the last two days alone, still trying to convince me.“Just come once,” she’d pleaded. “No commitment. If you feel like you don’t like it, you don’t want to belong, you can opt out, and I won’t pressure you again.”Eventually I’d caved.One meeting, I told myself. That was all.I would sit through it, smile politely, s
~ ASHLEY ~Poor Kimberly.I lifted my cup of tea to my lips so the smile threatening to escape wouldn’t betray me.Across the table, she sat as straight as a porcelain doll, pretending nothing was wrong. To anyone else, she looked calm, but I knew better.I’d seen the fear in her eyes the moment she walked into the dining room and saw the flowers sitting proudly in the center of the table. It was exactly the reaction I’d been aiming for when I insisted Mirela display them in the dining room instead of the kitchen counter where she’d kept them before.I watched her covertly. Her shoulders were stiff beneath the pale blue dress she wore, her fingers wrapped around her cup like a vice. She’d barely taken a sip from her coffee. Every few seconds, her eyes drifted nervously toward Nathan, searching his face to know what he was thinking since he hadn’t said much. She was so uneasy, it almost made me feel sorry for her.Nathan hadn’t argued. He hadn’t asked many questions. He hadn’t even loo
~ LENA ~I looked at Nathan’s face and saw the curious frown pulling his brows together. My heart thudded in my chest, waiting for his reaction, for what he was going to say.“Kimberly, darling...”Deborah’s voice broke through my panic. I looked at her. She was staring at me with mild concern. Or at least, what appeared to be concern.“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you feeling alright?”My fingers tightened around the back of a chair as I forced myself to smile and act like there was nothing wrong. Before I could respond, Nathan moved closer to the flowers, his attention fully on them.“Wow…”The word slipped quietly out of his mouth as his eyes moved over the arrangement. The roses, carnations and daisies were beautifully fanned out inside the elegant crystal vase. Somehow, they looked even more attractive than they had been yesterday.“These are some beautiful flowers,” he said, his gaze lingering on them even as he pulled out his chair and sat down. “Someone’s making quite
~ LENA ~I froze. Every thought in my head vanished at once.For one long, terrible second, all I could do was stare. I stared at both of them wondering if I was dreaming. Was this some kind of joke? A prank? Or something else entirely that I couldn’t understandNathan and Ashley were both asleep in the same bed. Ashley lay curled against his side, her head resting on his chest beneath his chin. One of her arms was draped across his stomach, while Nathan’s arm rested around her shoulders.The sight was so intimate it made something inside me recoil.They looked… I swallowed hard. They looked like a couple. Comfortable. Too comfortable. Like two people who had fallen asleep in each other’s arms countless times before.The thought hit me so hard that I stumbled back a step.No. No, this couldn’t be. I shook my head against what my mind was telling me. Nathan wasn’t like that. Everything I knew about him screamed that he wasn’t that sort of man. He would never have anything intimate to d
~ LENA ~I watched Ashley covertly over the dinner table as she reached for her fork. Her movements were slow, careful. She made even the simple act of lifting her glass of water appear strenuous, as though lifting it required more strength than she possessed.Dressed in a soft, cream sweater, she looked every bit the fragile patient recovering from a serious illness. Her dark hair fell softly around her shoulders, and her complexion still carried just enough paleness to sell the performance.If I hadn’t overheard that conversation upstairs earlier, I probably would have felt sorry for her.Now all I saw was an actress.Deborah sat next to her, looking every bit as polished and composed as she had been all day.Mother and daughter. Conspirators.Conversation flowed around the table while I pretended to listen and contributed whenever necessary, acting as though everything was normal. But my attention remained mostly on Ashley. Now that the veil had fallen, it was easy to spot the pret
~ LENA ~I entered the bedroom and closed the door behind me. The soft click of the lock sounded loud in my ears.For several seconds, I stood there with my back pressed against the door, staring at nothing.My body was still shaking, my mind still reeling from what I’d just heard.The conversation replayed itself over and over again in my head.“You were supposed to fake it! Fake being sick! Not send yourself to the hospital!”“It worked, didn’t it?”“Very soon, he’s going to be completely mine.”A shiver rippled through me.What kind of woman deliberately makes herself sick?A dangerous one. A desperate one. A woman willing to do anything to get what she wanted.And Ashley wanted Nathan. She’d always wanted him, ever since they were kids.Not in the harmless, childish way Rosa had described. Not in the way a younger sister admired an older brother. No. This was something darker. Something uglier.A part of me had always wondered if I was imagining things. Now I knew I wasn’t. Every
~ LENA ~The next morning, I awoke to the faint sound of movement inside the bedroom.For a few seconds, I remained still beneath the sheets, blinking sleepily against the soft morning light spilling in through the curtains.Then my eyes drifted to the clock, and a shocked gasp flew from my lips.“
~ LENA ~Hospitals always made me nervous. It wasn’t just the clean, antiseptic smell that lingered in the air. Or the quiet tension that seemed to live in the walls. It was what they represented—memories. Too many of them.Too many nights spent sitting in stiff hospital chairs, waiting… worrying
~ LENA ~Nathan set me down quickly.As my feet touched the floor, my heart was still racing, my body still caught in the moment we had just left behind. The feel of his hands, his lips, the warmth of him still clinging to my skin.But Deborah’s voice—the way it had sounded—sent a chill through me a
~ LENA ~The ride back home was strangely quiet, but it wasn’t because we were both silent.Nathan spoke from time to time beside me, his voice calm and attentive. Every now and then, he said something light—small, easy things meant to draw me out of my thoughts.He had noticed it. The way I had go







