There was nothing left for the hospital staff to do for him. Harry’s chart had already been marked for discharge the following day, and every visitor who could possibly come had already done so. The room was quiet now, too quiet. The kind of quiet that didn’t bring peace, only gave space for thoughts to crawl out of dark corners and start scratching at his skull. Lying there, staring at the ceiling, Harry replayed the events of that day again and again. Every detail returned uninvited: the pain, the helplessness, the moment his body failed him. The memory alone made his stomach twist. Weakness had never sat well with him, but this was worse than weakness, it was dependency. And that disgusted him. He hated the idea that he had survived because of circumstances, not control. That his life had been spared not by choice, but by chance. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, one he couldn’t rinse away no matter how hard he tried. Harry knew, deep down, that this was something he would nev

Rhianon didn’t know exactly why Frank had shown up at their place, but she knew one thing for certain, it wasn’t an accident. Nothing about this felt random. It was long past midnight, the kind of hour when normal people were asleep and only bad decisions moved freely. Frank hadn’t called ahead. He hadn’t texted. He had simply appeared. And that alone set every alarm in her head screaming. She forced herself to breathe evenly, even as dread crept up her spine. Whatever he was doing here, she had to shut it down fast, before it spiraled into something irreversible. “Frank! I’ve already called the police!” Rhianon yelled, her voice sharp and deliberate, hoping the threat alone would be enough to make him retreat. For a split second, she almost believed it might work. Then his voice came through the phone, calm and almost amused. [[Are you sure about that?]] Her stomach dropped. That single response told her everything, he was still on the line. Which meant she couldn’t have cal

Harry was done waiting.Tonight wasn’t about planning or second-guessing or hoping things would somehow resolve themselves. Tonight was the end of it, one way or another. He was closing the distance between himself and Frank, watching the gap shrink mile by mile on the dark stretch of road ahead. Still, he kept his speed just shy of reckless. A confrontation on the road would be suicide. Worse, it would put Melissa at risk.That was the line he refused to cross.He clenched the steering wheel harder, jaw tight, teeth grinding. He hated that it had come to this. He hated that he was being dragged out of the quiet, insulated world he preferred, forced into something ugly and violent. But Frank had crossed a boundary that could never be uncrossed.He had involved Melissa.That single decision sealed his fate.Harry didn’t pretend his thoughts were noble or clean. Melissa was his. Not in some abstract, poetic sense, she was part of his life, his world, his future. He wasn’t about to let s

Melissa noticed it almost immediately.Not footsteps, those would’ve been obvious. No voices either. It was the sound of the door itself, the faint metallic scrape that told her someone was messing with the handle. Tugging. Testing. Trying to force it without alerting anyone nearby.Her stomach dropped.Frank had the keys. That much she knew for certain. He’d made a point of jingling them earlier, like a reminder of who had control here. So whoever was on the other side of that door right now wasn’t him.Which meant this wasn’t allowed.Melissa froze where she sat, her body going rigid, every muscle screaming at her to react and yet knowing that any sound, any movement, might make things worse. If she cried out, if she shifted too loudly, she could draw attention to herself. And attention, in this place, felt like the most dangerous thing in the world.She pressed her lips together, forcing herself to stay silent.Her mind raced, scrambling for explanations even as dread pooled in her

The room no longer looked like a place meant for living. It had transformed into something grotesque, a slaughterhouse soaked in violence and desperation. Blood stained the floor, the walls, even the air felt heavy with the metallic scent of it. Harry had narrowly escaped death, and the only reason he was still breathing was because Frank had gone too far, letting cruelty override caution.Frank had already crossed a line moments earlier. He had executed the unconscious man without hesitation, pulling the trigger even though there was every chance the man wouldn’t have survived the injuries Harry had inflicted anyway. It had been unnecessary. Excessive. A display of power rather than logic.But that no longer mattered.Another gunshot rang out, louder than the ones before, not because of the sound, but because of who fired it.Melissa had refused to stand frozen any longer.When the gun slipped from Frank’s grasp during the struggle, she moved on instinct. There was no time to think,