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“That swings both ways. His bad boy ways must have been rubbing off on me, based on my resignation. And I’m glad of it.”

We drop down onto the sofa together. I rub her bare arms, trying to warm her up. Then I check her over. I hold her face between my hands and check her for injuries.

Her cheeks are raw from the cold. Her eyes are swollen. A loose strand of hair has caught against her wet skin. But there are no bruises. No blood. Only tears and exhaustion.

“I’m alright,” she says.

“What happened?”

“I walked out and left everything. I don’t have a phone. I don’t have my cards or keys. I don’t have a house.” She holds up her bare left hand. “I definitely don’t have an engagement ring. I slammed it on the table and told everyone to go fuck themselves.”

She looks back towards the hallway.

“I can’t believe it,” she says. “Dad told me there would be consequences, all ragey and Dad style, but I still walked out. I couldn’t take it anymore.”

I feel the anguish. Leaving William Parker isn’t a single brave step through a front door. It’s years of conditioning insisting that every road beyond him leads to disaster. I lived it myself. I felt it myself.

I spent most of my adult life walking back into his office whenever he made me believe I’d disappointed him.

Thank fuck she kept going.

“You’re home now,” I tell her. “Your real home.”

She lets out a sigh of relief.

“When Jack called. When he told me the truth and said you’d both be waiting… I just…”

Her words trail off, our eyes meeting in knowing. So much unsaid that doesn’t need to be said. I’m already feeling it. In my veins, in my bones, in my heart.

Jack told her we’d be waiting, and Alice trusted us enough to arrive without money, a phone or any certainty beyond the door opening. She chose us.

My gaze drops to her bare hand. The engagement ring is really gone. Now there’s only a pale band around her finger.

Alice follows my eyes.

“It feels so good to be rid of it. It feels great to be rid of everything, all the lies and the threats, and the pretending.” Then her expression twists. She presses one hand against her chest.

“It’s such a mess. I dunno. I’m relieved. I’m angry. I want to go back and scream at them… but there’s more. I want Mum to hug me and tell me I haven’t ruined her life. I want Dad to apologise. I want to never see him again. I just don’t know. There’s so much whirring around my head, I don’t know how to stop it.”

I smooth her hair away from her face.

“You don’t need to. Don’t overthink it. You just need to be you. That’s all you need to do right now, Alice. Just breathe and be you.”

Her breath catches.

“I still love them, Bryce. Mum and Dad.”

“Of course you do. They’re your family.”

The answer doesn’t comfort her entirely. Nothing could. But her breathing begins to slow. She presses her forehead against mine. Her fingers twist into my shirt.

“I have another family now, though. Two men I love.”

“Two men who love you right back.”

“Two men who also love each other.” She brushes her lips against mine, just a touch. “I can’t wait to see Jack. I can’t wait for us all to be together again. Like we were. Like we should be.”

“Me neither.”