Chapter 6

The hospital corridor was unusually quiet that afternoon. I'd been avoiding the surgical floor for days, taking refuge in patient consultations and paperwork—anything to escape Ashley's triumphant smiles and Marcus's cold indifference. But a cardiac emergency had forced me back to the OR

Chapter 7

I remained kneeling on the scattered journals long after Marcus had left the library, my body numb from hours of torture. The house had fallen silent, save for the occasional creak of settling wood. Dawn was approaching; faint gray light filtered through the curtains, casting eerie shado

Chapter 8

The morning after my confrontation with Marcus in the library, I stood in our bedroom watching him sleep. His face was peaceful in slumber, all traces of the monster from last night erased. It struck me how someone could look so normal, so human, while harboring such capacity for cruelty