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[Vadim

It’s not going to change anything. She won’t change anything.]

[Vadim

It’s still You + Me.]

[Alma

If you say so.]

[Vadim

I say it, I write it, I feel it, I sense it,

I know it, I swear it.]

[Vadim

I love you, Lancaster.]

[Alma

And I hate you, sometimes.]

[Vadim

You love me even when you hate me.]

That’s exactly the problem.

When my cell phone vibrates again, I don’t immediately register that the message is from a different number.

[R

He would be turning two today…]

12:01 a.m. And my heart breaks all over again.

35

Alma

My son was supposed to be born in early November, like me.

Raphaël didn’t miss the opportunity to remind me of that fateful night. I think sadness makes people cruel when they have no one to share it with.

My blessing, my escape, is Vadim. A sort of miracle cure, to be taken day and night. When I’m on the verge of sinking, he is there. He lifts me up and saves me in his own way.

Our secret is still safe. Maximilian held onto his job by the skin of his teeth. Lily, Clem, and Niels have been sworn to secrecy. As for Kate, she brings the conversation around to May every chance she gets, but she hasn’t given Vadim and me away.

Even so, when she calls me into her office, I brace myself for whatever poisoned arrow is coming my way.

“As I suspected, Skylight Pictures is still up to its old tricks. Specifically, I’ve been contacted directly by one of their executives.”

Her carefully styled hair frames her tense face.

“Why?”