Chapter 5

Wendy's POV

It only took two days to handle everything.

I had Lily's ashes scattered in the river. She had always loved water. She used to say water was free - it could go anywhere it wanted.

Now she was finally free.

I went back to Lucas's house in New York - the gilded cage that had held me for three years.

His scent still hung in the air. Cedar and tobacco. Something I had once found intoxicating. Now it made my stomach turn.

I didn't take a single thing he'd given me.

The designer bags. The jewelry. The couture. All of it belonged to the "canary" he'd kept - none of it belonged to me.

I took Lily's things. And my sketchbooks.

Before I left, I set a bank card on the coffee table.

A thousand dollars I'd made selling paintings. Not even close to the value of Stella's watch. But it was the statement I needed to make.

I didn't owe him anything.

From this day forward, there was nothing between us.

I had barely walked out the front door when a black car came tearing up and screeched to a stop right in front of me.

Lucas got out. Dark expression, red in his eyes - he'd clearly just gotten off a plane.

He saw my suitcase. Something crossed his face. Then a hard, humorless laugh.

"What is this, Wendy? Running away from home?"

I stepped around him and kept walking.

He grabbed my wrist. Hard enough to feel like he'd snap the bone.

"I'm talking to you. You steal something, you walk out, and you think that's it? Who gave you permission?"

"Let go of me."

I looked at him.

"Give back the watch. Then come with me to apologize to Stella."

He was already pulling me toward the car.

"If you just admit you were wrong, I can let this go. Lily's medication-"

Crack.

The sound of a slap rang across the quiet street.

Lucas's head snapped to the side. He went completely still.

He turned back slowly. His eyes were dark and dangerous.

"You just hit me?"

"Lucas. I told you. Lily is dead."

I held his gaze. Each word separate and deliberate.

"Three days ago. While you were picking out that ring for Stella, she was dying in the ICU."

"When you hung up on my call for help, she was in agony."

"When you told me I was lying for attention - her body was already cold."

His pupils contracted. The color drained out of his face.

"What did you say?"

His voice shook. His hand fell open.

"That's not possible. Dr. Morris said she had more time."

"That was before!"

I pulled free and stepped back, putting distance between us.

"You killed her, Lucas. You are the reason she's gone."

The words landed like four blades, straight to the center of him.

He stumbled. White as paper.

"I didn't...Stella said you were pretending. She said..."

"And you believed her?"

I laughed and cried at the same time.

"Of course you did. She's your whole world. And what am I? Just a liar. A nobody."

I steadied my breath.

"I never hated you for loving her. I only hate myself for loving a man who was too blind to see what was right in front of him."

I picked up my suitcase.

"Don't come near me again. When I look at you, I feel sick."

I walked away. I didn't look back.

Behind me, I heard him move. Then his voice broke open in a way I'd never heard before.

"Wendy! Stop! Where are you going?"

I kept walking.

"I'm not letting you leave! Wendy, come back!"

A cab was coming down the street. I raised my hand. Got in.

In the rearview mirror, I watched the man who had always seemed so untouchable standing at the curb, abandoned and frantic, his phone pressed to his ear.

He'd never reach me.

The Wendy who had circled him like a satellite, quiet and desperate and small, had died in that rainy night, along with Lily.

What was left was just a shell. Hollow with grief and fury.

The cab merged into traffic. The city sparkled on, indifferent.

I closed my eyes. One last tear slipped free.

Goodbye, Lucas.

Goodbye to these three wasted years.