He stood frozen in the doorway. "Do you really not want to see me?"


    Something about the way he said it made Amara''s heart ache. If only he knew— she used to dream of seeing him every single day.


    There was a time when living with Finnian, waking up to him, sharing a life together, had been everything she wanted. But that dream, he''d shattered himself. So why now? Why ask her this, as if none of it had happened?


    Amara refused to let him see the truth, refused to let herself look pitiful or weak. Her voice was cold and steady. "That''s right. I don''t want to see you."


    The words were like a needle, sharp and precise, piercing straight into Finnian''s heart. He winced, unable to hide the pain. Without thinking, he grabbed her arm, as if he might hold her there, as if he could find some words to say. But none came. He''d already made his choice to stay by Liliana''s side and leave Amara behind. Nothing he said now would change that. Still, the ache in his chest was unbearable.


    Amara felt it too, a sour, stinging hurt. But she wouldn''t let herself get dragged into another round of back-and-forth. "Mr. Everly, if there''s nothing else, I''d appreciate it if you left. I have work to do."


    Her dismissal couldn''t have been clearer. Finnian lowered his head, looked at her onest time, and slowly let go. Without another word, he turned and left.


    His retreating figure looked so lonely, so defeated, that Amara felt a wave of bitterness well up inside her. She turned away, not wanting to watch, and went back into the living room.


    Finnian sat in his car for a long while before he could bring himself to drive off. He leaned back and looked up at her window, imagining what she might be doing, picturing himself as part of her life, if only in his mind. It was the only way to take the edge off the emptiness gnawing at him.


    The incident with Emmaing to hassle Amara had already made the rounds. Hogan heard about it, his expression darkening as soon as the news reached him. He pushed his work aside and headed out-not to find Emma, but to go straight to Liliana.<fn0365> Get full chapters from find?novel</fn0365>


    When he arrived, Hogan didn''t bother with pleasantries. "Liliana, I heard about what happened this afternoon."


    At some point, he''d stopped calling her "sis-inw" and just called her "Liliana It was a tiny shift, but Liliana felt it keenly-her nails dug so hard into her palm she nearly brok? the skin.


    "Yeah, there was a little incident earlier. So what?" Liliana did her best to keep herposure, forcing a smile.


    "How could you side with Mrs. Emma Everly to gang up on Amara?" Hogan said bluntly. "That wasn''t right, and you know it."


    They used to get along so well-this was the first time Hogan had openly called


    her out. Liliana was furious. What had changed? When did Hogan start acting like this?


    The truth was, Hogan had always been swayed by appearances. If someone looked good enough, his judgment followed suit.


    He''d always thought Amara was in, even unpleasant to look at; he''d assumed she was trouble, and


    went out of his way to make life difficult for her. But now that Amara had changed-now that she was beautiful-he found her much easier to get along with, and suddenly, everything she did seemed right.


    “I didn''t think much about it,” Liliana said, struggling to keep her temper in check.


    "Mrs. Everly is my elder, so I figured I should back her up. That''s all."


    Hogan, who cared deeply about hierarchy and respect, didn''t argue further, though he did frown.


    Suddenly, something else urred to him. "By the way, Liliana, have you told Finnian about that other matter? When are you going to tell him?"


    The mention made Liliana''s blood boil. She''d already lost sleep and her appetite over that mess, and now Hogan was pressing her again. split second, she had the urge strangle him. Content Belongs to


    For a