Chapter TWENTY-EIGHT

DESTINY

The Four Star Diner hadn’t changed in twelve years. It still smelled of stale oil and greasy burners and floor cleaner. I shook my head and watched the rain as it fell outside.

Spring was so damn wet on the East Coast. How had I forgotten? But the desert did that to you. Made you forget.

Sitting in a booth, I tapped my nails on the chipped tabletop while I waited for Bear. His name was Orson, but we’d always called him Bear. Ever since he was a kid.

My memories of him were a little mixed. He was older. He had his own life and drama when I was a child going through mine. But he was trying to be a good brother, and I needed family, so I was trying, too.

Things with Marat had started out promising. I thought the craziness of our marriage might actually work out.

But my husband had been steadily pushing me away since the first day we moved into his penthouse. I probably needed to do or say something, but I was terrified of him asking me to leave.