Four Years and a West Village Watch

Evans, transforming a waitress

er mother's life-saving medical trea

my beloved fiancée, who died seven years ago

ociety spectacle, was

hildhood sweetheart, Jake, had threatened to j

iliate me, leaving me stranded at the

ted world, built on A

screaming I'd stolen her; when I was knocked down

e; she'd played me, usin

as

y penny, and even aired her deceit to our stunne

ed Jake was still venomously manipulating her, I did somet

ed Soph

Dub

directly

pte

ars' worth of cas

er. Her mom got life-saving treatments, her brother's at MIT, all thanks to me. W

how I forced her into this gilded cage, threatening to jump if she marr

eath away. She agrees to humiliate me at the altar

, shattered. I'm done. I'm canceling the

Jake, laughing, buying him an ex

ake crashes it, screaming about how I stole her. I

s it.

calls. "En

her the wed

him,"

rc will oversee the moving, and everything is being shu

l go get

r y

poured money in

as a waitress, a phot

alive, thanks to treatments

at MIT, studying eng

e had a gallery in

e she look

my Ava, dead

ent. A storm. I

ophia was a balm, a gho

ing was

cle. Hig

s about cemen

pected it felt li

rile white box filled with

some final detail

Miller w

riend. Queens. The

rough, d

eamed dow

out, his voice raw.

ced you. I know it. Because

did," Jake sobbed. "But I lov

owards the gallery's

m, I'll jump. I

This was a performan

e there too, draw

Jake. "Jake, d

hia, listen to him. He lov

Jake with misguided s

ped, her eyes wide

r voice barely a whisper.

titioned office space, unseen.

ned, pressed

sneered, a flicker of

Leave him at the altar. Publ

itated, he

reluctant nod.

ts before, intending to

trayal more complete th

, every word, every

ed world, built around

ont them. What

tant agreement, Jake's smug

lently, the gallery's c

iting. I got in,

my voice hoarse

e, dialed my mother,

her voice calm

is it? You so

"She's just... she was alw

It's a mista

ow, Ethan," Eleanor said s

of irritation when she meddl

ing. For your own sake. M

a phantom, trying to recreate

me with the force

as

," I told her. "I'm reloca

headquarters. A fres

, the dec

he penthouse later that e

glittered belo

there, nurs

ng okay?" she asked

ked at her. The resemblance

surface. A beaut

I said, my voice devoi

icker of surprise

g about? Are you ang

brooding silences. This, she

id. "It's

past her. "I'll be

't loo

beyond curt, unavoidable neces

rung open, but not in