The Neglected Wife's Triumph

distant at first, t

it before I saw i

Ethan had said Cassie was rest

ting for him to return from his "check"

now, seeping under door

ere was Ethan? W

"Ethan! Is a

of flames answere

. Smoke billowed up from be

to g

ck staircase, one I k

k with smoke. I cough

n a loose rug. Pain shot throu

t, but no

line masking some of the p

could hear the fire roar

th the latch, and burst out into th

ass, my ankle screami

, but I had d

ross the lawn, near

And C

Cassie, who was sitting on the steps, a blanket

e-filled lungs, my throbbing an

mping heavily, and mad

lled out, my

flickered in his eyes fo

napped back

was saying to a param

ng against a stone ba

ng him to see me, to acknowl

e. "Amelia. You

ure you don' t want to go to the

sie said, her voice weak but cl

in, my fear, my escape – it didn' t

ed face, my obvious injury, but his

are you alright? You look like you've in

I said, tears wellin

y calmed Ethan when the paramedic sugge

n Cassie touched his arm and said,

ambulance for a quick check, Cassie sto

care of Amelia. She's a... guest. She can come with us

ed my place. "A gu

re for anyone to see. Humiliation burned

over getting Cassie settled in a less smoke-damaged part of

bandaged my ankle.

ace of her earlier "sho

oice dripping with scorn. "That

said, my voice flat. "He

ng," she purred. "His priori

someone who understands his world. He plays at being

e nature, his manipulabil

d, anger stirring through the devasta

y dear. And Ethan... Ethan provides a certain kind of security. Besides," her eyes narrow

ximum pain, a confirmation of the dee