phin

gry wolf against the windows. I was jolted awake by a sound fa

chest heaving, her face pale in the dim light. Asthma.

... can't..

tstand, my hands shaking. I pressed the canister. Nothing. I tried again.

wn my face, I grabbed m

ing, his voice thick with s

ng for air filling the background. "Her asthma is bad. Really

ah, it's the middle of the night. She's probably just faking i

screamed, my voice crac

n's lazy giggle-Cassandra's-and the faint sou

sleep. He w

mber again until you're ready to apologize to Cassandra for that little

hun

rapped her in a blanket and ran out into the torrential rain, my own sobs lost

over, I was determined to make it perfect. I drove to the most exclusive toy store in the city to pick up her ma

kup, the bell above the doo

ssandra on his arm and L

ent dollhouse sitting on the counter. "I want t

cooed, looking at Aidan with wide, expe

e of pure annoyance. "Just let him have it,

" I said, my voice as brittle as ice

make up for your behavior last week. I'll pay for it." He pulled out a black cred

tly who paid his bills, stepped forwar

s commissioned and paid for in full months ago by the Vitali family directly. You see?" H

k, furious red. Cassandra

ave it delivered this afternoon," I told the manager,

ned my encrypted laptop and accessed the logs for Aidan's communications. He thought he was clever, using coded language an

ons"-they were all lies. Every single one. For five years, he had been building a lif

ed-it was all a ghost. A grand illusion built on a found