Oliver operated like a man on a mission.

There was security tailing me now wherever I go and all his waking hours were dedicated to tracking down Thalia and whatever evidence she still had access to.

Even though I understood his precautions, I couldn't help but bristle under the tight leash. My father allowed us to grow up as normally as we could and that childhood didn't include a bevy of bodyguards following us twenty-four-seven.

So it was no surprise that both Dad and Stellan noticed Dustin who'd been assigned to drive and escort me around whenever Oliver was busy. It was just another thing to Dad's list of growing wonders because Oliver and I were definitely not 'just friends' anymore—not to anyone with eyes. Stellan stayed mum and I had a feeling that Dad was treading carefully, worried he'd scare me off into running away again.

He did ask if there was anything he should be concerned about with a meaningful glance at the stern-looking Dustin and I just kissed his cheek and told him that things were perfectly fine. I knew it was only a matter of days before Dad would finally cave in and ask what the full scope was on me and Oliver and the sudden appearance of a guard and that would be fine because it would pretty much be his birthday and we were going to tell everyone then.

No, we weren't going to announce it during the party. Dad was turning sixty so we organized a pretty glammed-up party for him and with a long guest list, whether they were people who knew him from the industry, from his charitable works, friends, family, employees, everyone.

The plan was to mention it casually when the rest of us lingered long after the party for a last round of drinks and conversation. Everyone would still be wired enough to be in a good mood but too exhausted to do a proper inquisition and by the time the smoked cleared the next day, they would've already gotten over it.

"I'm still about an hour, babe, and I'm already speeding," Oliver said on the phone just as I was wandering out of the bathroom after curling my hair. "Dustin can drive you there and hang around for a little bit. I'll go home and get changed quickly and make my way there."

"I still have some final touches to make so I can just wait for you," I said as I sat down by the small study desk in Oliver's room that I'd somewhat turned into my own vanity. "We can go together."

Oliver sighed. "I'd like to but you have to be there early with Cassie to greet the guests and do the opening programme and all that stuff. I don't want you to miss that. I shouldn't have gone."

I felt the same way but I didn't say anything.

Oliver was a bit touchy on the subject of Thalia and what seems to be one dead-end lead after another. I got that he was frustrated and physically and mentally exhausted but he refused to give up. He got a call earlier today that a suite in a cheap motel a couple hours out of town had been rented out in the last three weeks to a Tammy Berger. Tammy was Thalia's real name before she elevated herself in high society after marrying Wesley Greaves. Berger was her mother's maiden name. Oliver had a long list of possible aliases she could use based on the patterns he'd remembered her using before when she would lease hotels and apartments for her secret sexcapades. He debated chasing it down and only caved when his informant said that they'd found personal belongings inside the suite as if someone had left in a hurry. There was stuff to go through and Oliver wanted to keep the investigative circle small (literally just him and Sav) in case he found anything incriminating him.

"Did you find anything useful at the very least?" I asked. It had become a habit at this point having chased down at least a dozen leads that went cold but this time I was genuinely curious.

"There's a laptop we're bringing in."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"She didn't pay the owner for a couple weeks now and he happily handed it over to us for a thick wad of cash," Oliver said. "I have to take a look inside it, Viv, and sweep it clean. I won't take risks."

I sighed. "Anything else?"

His slight pause was ominous enough. "There are newspaper clippings about me. And recent online photos of us that had been printed. It reminds me of how she'd stalked us when we were out and about in Vegas."

I shuddered at the uneasy reminder of being watched and how that resulted for me back in the chateau. "Well, there's not much you can do about it tonight. We'll tackle it with fresh eyes tomorrow. Just come home, okay?"

"Thanks, angel," Oliver said and I could hear the first smile he's probably had in the last four hours. "I'll see you soon. I love you."

I hung up after a quick I-love-you-too and focused on finishing up.

Cassie was going to have my ass if I left her to do all the hostess duties. She'd already been texting me, demanding if I was on my way because she'd come ridiculously early and was now working herself into a nervous breakdown. She may be daughter to a well-respected family and wife to a powerful man but she still got a little self-conscious. She obviously hasn't spent enough time with me or else she would've lost all shame by now.

Give it time, Vivienne. Give it time.

I smiled, imagining tonight's grand plans and Dad's face. This was going to be his first birthday with all his children in attendance and we all knew that was even more momentous to him than completing his sixth decade on earth.

I sipped the glass of red wine I'd left on my vanity earlier because as much as I loved red wine, I didn't feel like it tonight. And now it just tasted off to me so I pushed it aside and started removing the pins from my hair to let it hang down in soft waves. My make up was already done—just matte dark berry lips, some luminous bronzer warming my complexion and a simple and classic winged look with seventy-something layers of black mascara. My silvery gray eyes looked brighter and sharper in contrast to the sooty outline of my lashes and the bold lip color gave the overall look some pomp and posh with little effort.

Then I slipped into my evening dress—a gleaming olive-gold, one-shouldered satin gown with a generous side slit on its billowy silk skirt. The contrast against my cream-like complexion deepened the green out of the gold and set off my vibrant red hair dramatically.

I was just putting on my large diamond ear studs when I heard a muffled commotion outside.

I was alone in the penthouse but Dustin was standing guard outside in the hallway, routinely taking turns with two other guys on Oliver's security team.

My hand tightened around my cellphone when the commotion abruptly stopped and an ominous silence followed.

I was spooked because no matter how long ago it had been, I still remembered that feeling of being cornered and pursued, of that sickening sensation in your gut when you realize you were being preyed on.

I swallowed painfully past my suddenly dry throat and looked up Oliver's number. My fingers went flying across the buttons, cold panic rising in my stomach as I tried to command my legs to move: Something's wrong. Someone's here.

My heart slammed against my chest at the sound of gunshot, my hand jerking so suddenly it lost hold of the phone just as I was about to dial 911. Its dull thud on the wooden desk echoed in the room like a war cry to whoever was prowling the penthouse with a smoking gun.

You know how to fight, Vivienne, so fight. You promised never to be a victim again.

I grabbed my phone before launching off the vanity and scanned the room for some means of hiding or escape. I wasn't bulletproof after all.

I dialled 911 as I slid the balcony door open to check for alternative exits and the operator had just picked up when the bedroom door swung open with a slow, almost eerie creak.

"Oh, hello."

I tensed at the woman's voice and while I had never heard her speak before, I knew without a doubt who it was.

Slowly, I pressed down on the volume key to practically mute the voice of the operator while keeping the call going and softly dropped the phone on the puddled hem of the drapes that were pulled to the side. Then I turned my head to the side. I'd made sure to keep my body turned toward the direction of the door and planted in the space between the desk and the balcony. If she got trigger happy, there were places to duck under.

And she looks like she's itching to pull that trigger.

Without a word or any sudden movement, I studied the woman who glided into the room, her arms raised and her hands wrapped around a black, short-barrelled revolver.

While I couldn't dispute that she was the same woman I'd seen seven years ago, she looked different. Her dark hair was flat and cut unevenly, further sharpening the angles of her gaunt face. Her pale skin was dull and ashy in the light, marred with red marks, both fresh and scabbed, as if she suffered from an itch she would brutally scratch. Her fucshia-painted nails were chipped and chewed on the edges, her pilling cream-colored sweater and jeans only adding to her scraggly appearance.

Time—and I suspect destitution—had not been kind to Thalia Greaves and I didn't feel the slightest pang of sympathy.

"You should've never come back," she said with a sneer. "You should've never given him what he wanted."

"And what's that?" I asked in an even voice.

"Everything that I took away from him," she answered, one corner of her lip curling into an unpleasant smile.

"In case you haven't noticed, Oliver is doing well for himself," I answered as if in a perfectly normal conversation with a woman who wasn't dangerously insane. "I doubt that you'd taken much from him."

"Money was never his end game and you know it," Thalia scoffed and for a moment, she sounded completely stable. Then her smile turned chilling and any doubt I had vanished. "I took away from him what his money could never buy back. It's what he deserves after what he did to me. He would've been nothing without me!"

I couldn't help but snort. "Oliver would've been perfectly fine without you. You just happened to be convenient."

There was a tick in the corner of Thalia's eye. She definitely didn't like that answer.

"I saved him," she hissed, her eyes narrowing.

My brows raised, my hold on my temper slipping just a little. "You didn't save him, Thalia. You paid him for services rendered. Know the fucking difference."

I almost kicked myself for that outburst because the gun shook in Thalia's hands. I did my best not to show any alarm.

"I gave him the means to continue the only life he knows," she snarled. "I gave him so much more."

"I can tell," I shot back. "It's all in the ruins of a life he'd left behind because it's a life he can't live anymore. He's done with that, Thalia. Just as he's done with you."

"He doesn't get to say when we're done with each other." Here eyes were overly bright with emotions, spittle collecting in the corners of her mouth. "It's my game, my terms!"

"That game's long over, Thalia. Seven years to be exact."

Thalia cackled. "Oh, I was still playing. Still held the cards. Because in all those years, I managed to keep away from him what he held dearest in the world."

I opened my mouth to speak but Thalia wasn't done.

She was glaring at me, still spewing out venom. "But you! You're still the stupid bitch who can't stay away from what doesn't belong to you. Shame, really, that such a pretty, rich girl like you just won't quit a man with such a filthy, humiliating past."

She gave me a pitying smile. "You didn't think I noticed, watching by the sidelines as you tossed your heart at his feet while he was busy screwing a long line of women for money? You kept dogging him, all the way to Vegas. You might have snagged his attention for a moment but Oliver's so easily manipulated with money."

No matter what I knew of the truth, her words still stung but I refused to let any of it show. I returned her pitying smile. "That must make you feel so good about yourself, knowing your worth to him was whatever you doled out in cash and goods."

She flinched and I knew just how proud she was. "Not everyone wears rose-colored glasses, Vivienne. Some of us know what we want and the price we have to pay for it. But I hated you for playing games with Oliver and making him think that he was better than us. That he could have better than what he had with me. So I had to teach him a lesson."

I raised my brows. "I'm pretty sure he taught you just as life-altering a lesson as you taught him."

"I don't care about Wesley," she said with an expression of disgust. "The only thing he was good for was his money. He was a fat pig who'd roll over and snore as soon as he was done."

That was when her eyes turned maniacal. She grinned. "I might have enjoyed running a knife through his fat gut while I reminded him of his fatal error. I'm not some garbage he could just toss out and forget about."

I struggled to keep my panic from showing. "You need help."

"No, I don't," she said emphatically, waving the gun a little as if to underline her protest. "I know exactly what I want. What I need."

She started walking closer to me, her eyes looking beadier as she moved toward the balcony where there was less light. "I needed to be off those stupid meds that made me feel dull all day. And I want my second serving of revenge on Oliver. I'm almost glad that man didn't get to finish you off. The baby dying made me feel a little bit better about his botched up job but it didn't quite have as big an impact as I would've liked."

Pain and fury hit me from opposing directions that I nearly stumbled to my feet. I stifled a gasp, my hands curling into fists before they could go flying toward Thalia. She was still too far away for me to grab.

"Oliver didn't know about the baby." My voice came out hollow but even.

"Ah. That explains it then." She smiled coldly. "I'm amazed he didn't figure it out. But then he never chased after you all the way to Paris, did he? He was too gutless to face you. Too ashamed, as he should be."

She tossed her head back smugly. "But I knew you were the only way I could really hurt him after what he did to me. All it took was to track your whereabouts and pay someone to get rid of you. A local low life doesn't come with the guaranteed set of skills to do the job right but it's harder to trace him back to me. But now I have to finish the job that should've been done seven years ago."

My fingers itched to wrap themselves around Thalia's neck and strangle the life out of her but I only had one shot at this so no matter how much it angered me to learn the truth right now, I had to concentrate.

"And you think you're going to walk away from this without consequences?" I taunted. "You're getting your own hands dirty this time around."

"I know," she said calmly. "I want to leave Oliver no doubt as to who's still calling the shots. I want him to know that I'm responsible for the total destruction of his life."

"If only you'd stayed far away, Vivienne. You wouldn't have to die too, as much as I would relish it." She steadied both hands around the gun, taking one step closer and aiming the barrel right at my face. "But Oliver can't have everything he wants when he'd left me with nothing. I'll make sure of it even if it's the last thing I do."

"I might have a problem with that," I said.

Her eyes narrowed at me. "Do you think I fucking care, princess? Neither of you will get what you want. Now back all the way up to the railing or I'm gonna bury a bullet between your pretty eyes!"

I had very few options.

If Thalia had been sloppy, staff and security would've been alerted to the gunshot and hopefully be making their way up now. I could wait for intervention or I could fight back. I was definitely out for her blood after learning her involvement in Theodore's death. I had every instinct to obliterate her from existence.

"Move I said!" she screamed at me and I took a half-step back just to encourage her to come closer. My feet stood just past the doorway that led to the small, viewing balcony that only had room for a coffee table and two chairs.

"Get on the table!" she ordered, jerking the gun closer to my face.

It happened fast.

The moment she got close enough, my left hand shot out to grab the gun by the barrel and force it over to my right and away from my head while my other hand curled into a fist on its way to her face.

When her head snapped back from my punch, I pulled my right arm back and grabbed the gun from her with both my hands. I dropped it to the side just in time to catch her by the shoulders as she tried to plow into me straight toward the railing. With all my force, I shoved down on her shoulders and steered her around so our positions shifted. She swung her foot forward, narrowly missing my shin as I shifted to the side. I pushed her down to the floor but she seized her head up and bit down hard on my arm and in a knee-jerk reaction as I yelled out in pain, my hand on that arm released its hold on her. She elbowed me on the head as she rolled off from under me, sending my vision shaking for a moment.

The door burst open and heavy footsteps padded into the room.

"Vivienne!"

At a quick upward glance, I spotted Oliver rushing in with Sav, the silent sentinel, right behind him.

"Watch out!" Oliver yelled, halting in his spot, his eyes pinned to the sight behind me. I shoved myself up to a crouch and turned just as Thalia clambered back up to her feet with the gun pointed in my direction.

"I'm glad you're here to see her die, Oliver!" Thalia screamed as her thumb pulled back on the hammer. There was a dazed, eerie smile on her face. "I'm sending her after your baby so they can both rot in hell while you live with it!"

"No!"

My arms raised to shield the front of my body as I curled on my roll to the side but before I could hit the floor, a large, solid weight threw me down and covered me.

A scream and a ruckus followed but I heard Oliver's voice on a low gasp. "Viv... sorry... Tried to get to you... fast as w-we could."

My eyes snapped open to find his face just inches above mine, beaded with sweat and creased in pain.

My heart dropped to my stomach as my arms opened to support him. My palm flattened on a warm, sticky spot on the left side of his lower back. "Oh, God. Oliver!"

I lifted up and gently rolled him to my side, keeping low while pressing my hand on his wound to stem the blood flow. I looked up to assess the danger and saw Sav's massive frame surge toward Thalia in an effort to wrestle the gun away from her. She clambered back and up on a chair, kicking at him and stretching her arm back over the railing to keep the gun out of his reach.

With a growl, he pushed his arm up further and snatched the gun back and my mouth opened in a silent scream as I watched, in what seemed like slow motion, as Thalia lost her balance, her center of gravity higher than the metal railing. Her arms flailed as she tipped over backwards, her feet swinging up the air.

Sav caught her on one ankle and he leaned heavily over the railing to keep his hold on her while she screamed and wailed.

"Damn it, woman. Stop kicking!" he shouted through gritted teeth, his arm and shoulder muscles bulging through his shirt as he tried to hold on to her entire weight.

Then I saw her other foot come up and kick hard at his hand and in that infinitesimal release of his hold, she plunged to her death.

I sucked in a gasp through a shudder, my eyes squinting close as I turned away. Only the first squeeze of Oliver's hand in mine drew me back out and I glanced down to find him looking at me. His blue eyes were a little unfocused and whether he'd seen everything or not, the sudden silence except for the rising blare of sirens in the distance confirmed everything.

"It's over," he said in a shaky whisper, swallowing hard as a tremor went through him.

Tears filled my eyes as I wordlessly nodded, only twisting around when I heard Sav's heavy footsteps approaching.

I looked up into the shadows that half-shielded his face and from what I could see, his expression was as stony as ever as if he didn't just witness a woman fall to her death sixty stories down when he had her by the ankle.

"The cops are here," he said in a clipped voice before reaching for something out of my view. He squatted down on the floor next to me, a scarf I'd abandoned somewhere in the bedroom earlier now clutched in his hand. With an almost mechanical efficiency, he folded it and held it to me. I took it and pressed it down on Oliver's wound with my blood-coated hand.

"Not your fault, Sav," Oliver muttered weakly as he put a trembling hand on his friend's arm. "Not me... Not her... N-none of... this."

The man looked at Oliver for a moment before nodding and getting back on his feet just as a handful of men in a mix of security and police uniform filed into the room. One of them was radio-ing in the injured guard from outside. Not Dustin but one of the other guys in the rotation. He was alive but bleeding badly. Just like Oliver.

"Oliver?" I prompted him when I saw that his eyes had closed. His color didn't look good and his skin felt clammy and cold. The pounding of my heart filled my ears as sick, cold dread stirred in my gut. "Oliver! Stay awake! Help's here. We're going to get you to a hospital, okay?"

A couple of officers came around me to assess his condition before barking instructions at someone. "Ma'am? We need you to move aside."

Oliver's eyes fluttered open, finding me right away in his fleeting consciousness. "Viv... don't leave...'Kay?"

"Never," I whispered to him, smiling through my tears before lifting my hands away from him as paramedics came to take over.

The nightmare isn't over yet but this is one that Oliver and I are determined to live through together no matter what.

***

The words of the doctor attending to Oliver sounded foreign and distant, his words warping into each other that I could only make out a few.

"Liver laceration... exsanguination... emergency surgery... stop the bleeding... may not be salvaged... his family."

I glanced up with dry eyes and looked at the doctor's concerned face. "He has family."

Dad put an arm around me. "Honey, it's okay. I've called a distant relative of his. I think it's his Mom's second cousin or something. They're just in LA. I've left them a message."

I grabbed the doctor's hand to draw his attention back to me. "No. He has family. I'm here. Tell me what you need me to do."

Dad's hold on me tightened. "Honey..."

My head snapped back and forth between him and the doctor who was looking at me warily. "I am his family. I'm his wife! We've been married the last seven years."

The small waiting room outside of the ER stilled into silence.

Several pairs of eyes were on me but I couldn't care less.

So the truth was out.

It wasn't the important thing at the moment.

"Oh, God," my father groaned before pulling me in his arms as I burst into helpless tears. "Vivienne, honey... Oh, God."

I buried my face in my father's chest, the tears I'd held back since they carted Oliver away from his penthouse finally pouring out of me. Sav and I had been alternating between restless pacing and talking with the police when Dad, Stellan and the rest of our family and closest friends had come striding into the waiting room wearing both their fancy evening attire and identical expressions of concern. They'd spent the last hour checking in on us and the injured guard who'd been cleared and taken to an evaluation room after they were able to safely dig the bullet out of his right shoulder clavicle. There was media trying to get to us so the guys had called security in to keep prying eyes a good distance from us. Technically, we couldn't cord off our little section of the hospital but there were enough social heavyweights in our group to make it happen regardless of protocol or consequences. So yes, everyone was stressed, exhausted and on the edge after the shocking turn of events tonight but none of us were in mortal danger like Oliver still was.

Dammit, Vivienne. Your crying isn't going to help him.

I drew in a deep breath and pulled away from my father, turning to the perplexed doctor who seemed to be teetering on the edge of his next decision. But he wasn't able to make it because the ER door swung open and a nurse called him in with alarming urgency.

Just as he turned away, I grabbed his sleeve and wheeled myself in front of him. "Do whatever you have to do to save him. Do you understand? He needs to live."

Sympathy softened the man's face. "We're going to give it our best, dear. That's all I can promise you."

The strength in my bones seemed to disappear the same time the doctor did behind the ER doors but before I could hit the floor, Stellan was there, supporting me by the arms and leading me toward a chair.

He and Dad sat on either side of me as if flanking me in case of any attack.

I glanced at the faces around me—my sister, Sebastian, Max, Sav, my father and brother—and none of them looked on with judgement. Burning curiosity, yes, but not judgement.

"I'm sorry we hid the truth from you," I finally said with a sigh, willing to say the things Oliver and I had needed to say for a long time, now and by myself, just to keep my mind off the fact that he was in there fighting for his life. The last thing I wanted was for him to come out of surgery and into the condemnation of the people who mattered so much to him.

"I followed him to Vegas on my twenty-first birthday, determined to make known to him what you all probably know I'd wanted for the longest time," I admitted with a faint, embarrassed smile. "Suffice to say, he felt the same way I did and we rushed into something we probably shouldn't have. Neither of us were quite ready for what we'd signed up for. We made mistakes. We hurt each other."

Tears pricked my eyes again and I closed them for a moment, breathing deeply and summoning strength I hadn't needed to draw for years now.

Dad took my hand in his and gave it an encouraging squeeze. I opened my eyes to see his kind, understanding smile and what was left of my reserve just crumbled. "I fled to Paris and Oliver stayed to make something of himself. I was angry and I was hurt and he felt he didn't deserve me until he became more... until he became better. It's crazy how we could torture ourselves with the most complicated things when in the end, we really only want the simplest of things—to be happy. To be loved. To be part of something."

"Oh, Viv," Cassie whispered in a choked voice, prompting Sebastian to put his arm around her in comfort. Her big brown eyes were wet with tears and I watched as her hand gently rested on the swell of her stomach. The gesture, one I'd done countless times before years ago, pierced me with bittersweet memories.

"We had a child," I said and I felt both my father and brother tense. With pleading eyes, I turned to each side to look at them. "One reason I bought the chateau was to hide my pregnancy until I could figure out my next move. Neither of us knew about my condition when I left the country and I couldn't tell you because it meant telling you everything and I didn't want you to be angry at Oliver. Or me. We both needed you separately at such a terrible time in our lives."

"Where's the child, Vivienne?" my father asked quietly, the lines in his forehead deepening as if he already knew the answer to his question.

"Theodore died hours after I gave birth to him. It was too early. He was only twenty-eight weeks," I said, steeling myself against the rush of an old pain made acute again by tonight's revelations. "I was attacked at the chateau by a man who was among the local laborers we'd hired for the restoration project. He tried to choke me in my sleep but I managed to escape. Our groundskeeper chased him off with a shotgun. In his escape, he fell off a section that had been under renovation."

Max swore under his breath while my father leaned back in his seat as if my confession was physically weakening him. Cassie, probably horrified by her own imagination as she visualized the scene for herself, pregnant as she was like I had been, turned to press her face into Sebastian's chest. Stellan, silent but solid as a rock, put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"It's ironic to me now to recall how he died," I said bitterly. "Because Thalia died almost exactly the same way and she had been the orchestrator of that attack on me. She confessed it to me tonight, thinking I wouldn't live through it. She wanted to finish the job she'd started years ago."

"Why was she so bent on destroying you and Oliver?" Cassie asked, shaking her head in bewilderment.

"Because Oliver destroyed her," Sebastian told his wife softly. "When he was done with her, Thalia Greaves had been divorced by her husband and ripped from her rich and dazzling life."

Cassie blinked up at him, still confused. "But what did she do to him?"

"I'm assuming she cost him his marriage with Vivienne," Stellan said without heat or anger in his voice. "Let's just say that in the years he'd struggled, Oliver sought relationships with financial benefits rather than romantic ones. There was a time when he'd been stone cold about many things, all in the name of reclaiming what his family had lost. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd made many enemies because of those choices."

I narrowed my eyes at my brother and his other friends. "So you all knew what he'd been up to?"

Max sighed. "I think it's safe to say that we usually know what's happening with each other, whether we say it out loud or not. We helped Oliver where we could but you know how proud he is."

"I think we can say that about all four of you," Cassie muttered, earning her a look from Sebastian that was too weak to be a proper glare. She just smiled sweetly at him.

"Well, I'm glad to know that Oliver and I have one less thing to worry about after all of this," I said before catching myself and pausing to look everyone in the eye. "You're all cool with this, right? Because we're not getting a divorce. We're not going anywhere. We're staying here and we're staying together."

Dad let out a long sigh. "What we think won't make the slightest difference, will it, Vivienne? You always do what you want to do."

I winced even as I studied my father closely. He didn't seem angry—just resigned and exhausted. And a little sad.

"I'm sorry I didn't turn to you for help," I said in a small voice, swallowing the lump in my throat. "Maybe things would've been different. Maybe we could've saved Theodore. Maybe..." I took a deep breath to control the sobs that were threatening to rip through me. "Maybe... we'd be... w-we'd be whole right now."

Tears glistened in Dad's eyes as he pulled me into his arms, his hand cupping the back of my head. "Oh, honey... I'm sorry for what you suffered. It'll take time but someday, you'll be alright. You both will be."

It was a somber several hours as we sat there in vigil, waiting for good news.

The lead investigator returned shortly after sunrise to let us know that the case was pretty much iron-clad. Thalia might have been creative in her scheme but she was sloppy. In the motel, they found evidence linking her to Wesley's death—keys to his house with some blood traces on it. They were just waiting on DNA results. She'd set up that motel and called in the lead through one of the employees there days after she'd already checked into Whitewood under a false name. After searching the suite she'd rented, they found that she'd stolen a housekeeping uniform which allowed her to slip in and out of the premises. It allowed her to scope out the area and observe some of the security protocol. When Oliver left to chase down her false lead, she shot the guard and planned to have me jump off the balcony. Not only was I going to make a ghastly sight to greet Oliver, it was also going to appear as a suicide and let her off. Once they knew what to look for, the hotel security scoured all their video footage and turned them over to the police, including that from the camera installed out on the balcony. Oliver had wired the penthouse with security cameras two weeks ago and while they didn't capture Thalia pointing a gun at me, they captured majority of our conversation and Thalia's deliberate kick that prevented Sav from saving her. That was a relief to me because Oliver had mentioned before that his friend didn't have the warmest relationship with the law. They would get him if they could but this plus the recording of my 911 call cleared him from any wrongdoing. I thanked the officer for all his work and let Sebastian and Max hammer out the legal details with him. They would know how to hush most of this case and tie all loose ends.

"Mrs. Yates?"

"I think he's talking to you," Stellan whispered in my ear while gently nudging me by the arm. I looked up from the floor tiles I'd been staring at and wrinkled my brows in confusion. Dad had dozed off beside me and Stellan looked like he was telling me a joke I was supposed to get.

My brother smiled and pointed toward the door of the ER as the doctor was stepping out. "You might have to use Cartwright-Yates if you don't get used to it but I think the good doctor wants to talk to Oliver's wife."

I blinked. "Right. That's me."

Stellan sounded amused. "Yes, Vivienne. That's you."

We both stood up to meet the doctor halfway and only when he said the words "He's going to be alright" did I exhale in relief and promptly pass out.

***

"I was told you're feeling better but you're not supposed to be sitting up yet," I said as I entered Oliver's private room a couple days later.

He was scruffy as hell with dark circles under his eyes but he had a soft smile on his face and his gaze was as clear as the pale blue sky.

My heart swelled and if I didn't have to keep my cool for at least ten more minutes, I would've squealed and pirouetted on the spot.

I was so goddamned happy.

He grinned at me. "I'm not sitting up. Not technically. The bed's doing it for me."

I waltzed over to perch on the side of his bed, grateful that the first time he'd seen me in days, I was freshly showered and in better spirits.

He reached up to cup the side of my face, concern replacing his rakish humor. "Are you alright, angel? Jack said you passed out and they had to keep you overnight for observation. You didn't get hurt, did you?"

I let him move his eyes all over me in inspection, amused that for a man who'd skated past death a little too close just a couple days ago, he was more concerned about me who was all in one piece.

"I was dehydrated and exhausted," I told him, taking his hand in my own. "Shock hit me too. I think I kept it at bay all those hours when we were waiting for you to come out of surgery."

Oliver sighed, lifting my hand to his lips to press a kiss on it. "I'm sorry for putting you through that. Not just me being as bad off as I was but for everything."

His brows pulled in, his eyes squinting with pain. "I'm sorry for what Thalia did to you years ago. For what she did to Theodore. And for what she did again a few nights ago. I brought you and our family this hell and suffering."

I smiled softly at him. "While we have to be cognizant of our choices and their consequences, we can't own all the blame, Oliver. There are people who will hurt others no matter what we do."

Oliver gave me a faint, shaky smile and tightened his fingers around mine. "We're done hurting, Viv. Done hurting other people. Done hurting each other. Done hurting ourselves."

I beamed at him. "I'm very glad to hear that. We need to live in the light again, Oliver. For our sake."

I moved his hand down until it rested on my stomach. "And for his or her sake too."

His eyes widened as he stared at where his hand was, the bump there still quite indiscernible.

"Are you..." His voice caught and he swallowed hard, never taking his gaze or hand away from my belly. "Are we..."

I laughed. "It's still early. Just a few days shy of seven weeks. But I found out when they did some tests on me after I fainted. I'm just starting to get a little bit queasy in the morning. But if the last time is anything to go by, it's going to hit me hard pretty soon."

Oliver's eyes lit up with his bright, open grin. "That's amazing, babe."

When I raised a brow, his expression turned comically guilty. "I mean, not the morning sickness because I'm sure that's a terrible thing to go through. I meant the baby. I'm just... I can't believe it."

I smirked. "You better because unlike last time, I'm not running away to do this all by myself. I'm staying and you and I are going to go through this together."

Oliver smiled at me, almost reminding me of the boy he once was. "I'm game if you are."

***

Whew! So, what do you think?

I know, I know, you're all asking for an epilogue. There is a short but sweet one coming next week so keep an eye out.

I know this is shorter than Virtue and Vice but that book was meant to be two that got merged into one and I happen to like a quicker pace now in my story. I feel like even with shorter chapters, we got to see Oliver and Vivienne in a lot of stages in their lives, in their relationship. 

I hope you enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. And I hope it makes you look forward to the other ones coming in a few months, probably around spring. I'm still trying to work out the details of the plot on Max's story to make sure I have a pretty solid grip on writing it.

Thank you for joining me every week for Vivienne and Oliver's story.

Until the next one!

XOXO,

Ninya

♪♪♪ Chapter Soundtrack: Not With Haste by Mumford & Sons ♪♪♪

Your eyes they tie me down so hard

I'll never learn to put up a guard

So keep my love, my candle bright

Learn me hard, oh learn me right

This ain't no sham

I am what I am

Though I may speak some tongue of old

Or even spit out some holy word

I have no strength from which to speak

When you sit me down, and see I'm weak

We will run and scream

You will dance with me

They'll fulfill our dreams and we'll be free

And we will be who we are

And they'll heal our scars

Sadness will be far away

So as we walked through fields of green

Was the fairest sun I'd ever seen

And I was broke, I was on my knees

And you said yes as I said please

This ain't no sham

I am what I am

I leave no time

For a cynic's mind

We will run and scream

You will dance with me

Fulfill our dreams and we'll be free

We will be who we are

And they'll heal our scars

Sadness will be far away

Do not let my fickle flesh go to waste

As it keeps my heart and soul in its place

And I will love with urgency but not with haste