hared sanctuary with Bruce. The emptiness of the room echo

ir cheerful shapes now a mockery of her pain. Without ceremony, she t

ment. With methodical precision, she dismantled every celebrator

pain crystallized into something harder, colder. The scissors moved through the ph

stretched endlessly as darkness crept across the sky, her vigil unbroken from dusk until da

to greet him. She remained still, a stat

, dropping onto the nearest seat and massaging his

ped Corrine's lips.

th the finality o

upon her, unreadable

that expression? Didn't your decision crystallize the moment you abandoned me

ced grace, the flame of his lighter dan

ke. "This is the best choice. You've misunderstood Leah for to

r before her as she sneered, "I wonder, is there

three years, I've tried to bury my feelings for Leah, but love refuses to bend to will.

d a laugh that bor

re she had poured herself into loving him, believ

eams, all for the man who now dismissed their rela

xpected pain lanced through his chest. "There's a million in this

er life apparently equaled a

end that a million m

ant nothing to me. I never craved the envied title of Mrs. Ashton!" Frost seemed to

-there will never be reconciliation between us!" Her word

isible vice grip his heart, stealing his breath. His h