“I never stopped loving you.”
He took a breath.
“But loving you doesn’t mean letting you hurt us.”
Fiona covered her face.
I walked toward the window.
Outside, Gregory was speaking with the officers.
The ocean stretched beyond the dunes, calm and endless.
Three weeks earlier, I had stood in that same room watching my parents open the door to their new life.
I had thought the deed was the most important thing I was giving them.
I was wrong.
The house wasn’t the gift.
Security was.
The knowledge that nobody could walk into their home, threaten them, or take advantage of them simply because they were getting older.
Claire came to stand beside me.
“There’s one more thing,” she said.
I turned.
“What?”
She handed me a sealed envelope.
