chapter 20
Ethan had not only blamed me for her death.
He had believed I had tried to use her body to trap him, humiliate him, and then get rid of her when she became inconvenient.
It didn’t excuse what he had done to me. Nothing could.
But it recontextualized the shape of his hatred.
A lie. Then another lie. Then a death that looked like punishment.
He had built a religion out of bad information and used my body as the altar.
I sat back slowly.
Rose reached across the table, not touching me, only pleading with her eyes. “He doesn’t know I’m talking to you. If he finds out—”
“He’ll do what?”
She had no answer that wasn’t visible on her face.
That was the night I made the choice that defined the rest of my life.
I could have handed her to him.
I could have given him the address, the time, the proof she was alive. Let the two of them devour each other at last and call it justice.
Old Nora might have.
The Nora who had lived in pain long enough to fantasize about becoming it.
Instead I said, “You’re going to disappear properly this time.”