I was discharged on a Tuesday. The doctor seemed reluctant to let me go, but I signed all the necessary paperwork with a steady hand. My throat still felt raw, and the bruising along my arms had developed purple edges, but I was done being helpless in that hospital bed. As the taxi pulled up to the penthouse, I felt a strange detachment—like I was returning to a museum exhibit rather than my own home.
The elevator opened directly into the foyer, and I stepped out, my heels clicking against the marble. Immediately, I noticed something was different. The living room furniture had been rearranged—subtly, but deliberately. My photography collection, the black-and-white portraits I'd chosen carefully for each wall, had been replaced with generic decorative objects. Vases. Neutral sculptures. Things I'd never seen before.
I set my hospital bag down and walked further into the space. It took me a moment to recognize what was missing—the photographs. The memories. Every single framed picture of Kylo and me had been removed from their usual places.
"You're back!" Kylo's voice came from the kitchen. He appeared in the doorway, his sleeves rolled up, a dish towel in his hand. He looked almost surprised, as if he'd forgotten I was coming home. "How are you feeling?"
"Where are the photographs?" I asked.
He glanced around the room, then back at me. "Hallie thought the space needed a refresh. You know, make it more... relaxed. Less formal."
I said nothing. I walked to the guest storage closet, opened it, and found my photographs stacked haphazardly inside, leaning against each other like discarded cards. I pulled out a single frame—our wedding day. Kylo in his tuxedo, me in white, both of us looking like we believed in forever. I carried it back to the mantel and placed it where it had always belonged.
"It looks better this way," I said quietly.
Kylo shrugged. "If you want. It's your call."
That night, I woke to the sound of something clattering on the floor. I went to investigate and found the wedding photograph face-down on the carpet, the frame cracked, the glass spiderwebbed. I picked it up and looked at it. The damage was precise—a clean hit, not an accident.
I didn't replace it.
Six weeks passed. Hallie settled into her role as the penthouse's new center of gravity. She moved through the rooms with increasing confidence, her hand perpetually resting on her growing belly, her eyes soft and vulnerable whenever Kylo was nearby. She never spoke, of course. Her muteness was her shield, her sword, her perpetual excuse for why she could never quite answer a direct question.
The annual Dean Enterprises charity gala arrived—a glittering affair at the Metropolitan Museum's Temple of Dendur. I chose a structured black couture dress, architectural and severe. No softness. No vulnerability. My armor.
Hallie wore cream. Always cream. She clung to Kylo's arm all evening, her body angled toward his like a compass finding north. I moved through the crowd with practiced ease, accepting condolences for my "recent illness" with a smile that never reached my eyes.
On the terrace, the December air was sharp with the promise of snow. I stood near the balustrade, watching the city lights blur through my champagne glass. Behind me, the party continued—champagne flowing, diamonds glittering, the carefully choreographed dance of New York's elite.
I heard the low growl before I saw the dog.
Titan was massive—a Rottweiler with shoulders like granite and eyes that held no warmth. He belonged to one of the venture capitalists, a man known for his aggressive business tactics and his even more aggressive pets. The dog had been on the terrace for most of the evening, restrained by a handler, a living conversation piece.
I turned just as Hallie slipped away from Kylo's side, moving with unexpected speed toward the column near the terrace entrance. She reached into her sleeve—a small, precise movement—and pulled out something thin and metallic. A cocktail skewer.
She positioned herself behind the column, her body shielded from the crowd. Then she reached out, the skewer concealed in her palm, and jabbed it sharply into Titan's flank.
The dog's head snapped up. His eyes found me.
The handler's grip on the leash failed. Titan lunged across the terrace, a black blur of muscle and fury, straight for me. I heard the scream before I registered the pain—teeth sinking into my left arm, my hand caught in the dog's jaws. The marble floor scraped against my back as I was dragged, my black dress tearing, my heels catching on the stone.
"Arlette!" Kylo's voice, distant through the chaos.
Through the haze of pain and terror, I saw him move. Not toward me, but toward Hallie. He threw himself in front of her, shielding her body with his own, his back to me as I fought against Titan's grip.
It took three security guards and a tranquilizer gun to pull the dog off me. By then, my hand was mangled, blood pooling beneath me on the cold marble, my carefully chosen dress ruined beyond salvation.
In the medical suite, as the doctor stitched my torn flesh, Kylo finally appeared. He stood in the doorway, his tuxedo jacket unbuttoned, his bow tie askew. He looked at my bandaged hand, at the seventeen stitches the doctor had just finished placing.
"You should have been more careful around the dog," he said.
