Page 79 of The Endless Want

He doesn’t slam the door when he leaves. He closes it gently.

The soft click breaks whatever was holding me upright. I collapse to the floor.

I don’t know how long I sit there. Minutes. Hours. A lifetime.

Tears come in waves—heat, cold, anger, grief, all tangled until I can’t tell one from the other. I sob until my ribs ache. Until my throat burns. Until my body trembles with exhaustion.

I press a hand to my stomach more than once. Whisper apologies to a child who can’t hear me yet. Apologies for letting fear and war and Declan poison everything sacred and fragile.

I don’t know how to breathe around the knowledge that he looked at me and saw strategy instead of someone he loved. And I don’t know how to face the world without falling apart.

Eventually—after I can’t cry anymore—I reach for my phone. My hands shake the entire time.

Mackenzie answers on the first ring. “Ailish?” Her voice is soft enough that I break all over again.

“He… he left,” I manage, trying to steady my breath. “We argued. I told him. He said… awful things.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” she murmurs, already rustling like she’s grabbing her keys. “I’m coming.”

“No,” I say quickly. “Just stay on the phone. Please.”

“Talk to me.”

I tell her everything. The envelope. The photo. The note. Declan’s reaction. My words. His.

Mackenzie listens with the kind of quiet only a friend who has weathered storms herself can give. She doesn’t interrupt. She doesn’t judge. When I falter, she waits. When I cry, she doesn’t fill the silence.

And when I finish, she exhales hard. “You did the right thing.”

“I didn’t,” I whisper. “I pushed him away.”

“You gave him a boundary,” she says. “And he reacted poorly because he’s terrified and volatile and in love with you in a way he doesn’t know how to survive.” She pauses. “That’s not your fault.”

“Mack…”

“You listen to me.” Her voice sharpens—not harsh, just firm. “You are not alone. You have people behind you. You have me. You have Nadia. And Liam? Liam will protect you with his last breath. He’d never let anything touch that baby. Not even Declan’s temper.”

The mention of Liam tightens something in my chest. “I don’t want to tell him like this.”

“You may not have a choice,” she says gently.

“What do you mean?”

Mackenzie hesitates. “Ailish… the Russians escalated. Something happened earlier. Liam’s been tense all afternoon. I think Conor or one of the watchers saw Declan somewhere he shouldn’t have been. There are rumors spreading.”

My blood chills. “About what?”

“I’m not sure yet,” she says. “But I think Liam suspects something’s off with you too.”

I close my eyes. Of course. Of course the world wouldn’t give me even a day to breathe.

“Ailish,” she says softly, “whatever happens next… I’m with you. We’ll keep you and that baby safe. I swear it.”

My throat tightens painfully. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being here.”