---- Chapter 19 Amira Osborne POV: Returning to Washington D.C. felt less like a homecoming and more like starting over on a blank page. The city was familiar, but | was a different person. The five years away had burned the last vestiges of my love for Carter out of me, leaving behind a placid, peaceful scar. With the generous bonus from the project, | bought a sunny townhouse in a quiet, tree-lined suburb, with a big backyard and a room painted sky blue, just for Chloe. Seeing her little face light up as she ran through her new home was a feeling purer and more profound than any romance | had ever known. Arjun became a permanent fixture in our new life. He was there every day, helping me assemble furniture, cooking dinner while | unpacked, playing with Chloe in the yard. It was easy. Comfortable. A quiet, domestic rhythm began to form between the three of us, so natural it felt like we had been doing it for years. One evening, Chloe was begging to go play with her new friends at the neighborhood playground just down the street. | had a work call | had to take, but it would only be ten minutes. The neighborhood was safe, one of those idyllic communities where kids left their bikes on the lawn and doors ---- were left unlocked. "Okay, sweetie," | said, kissing her forehead. "But just for a little bit. ' Il be right down." Those ten minutes would come to haunt me. My call was barely finished when my phone rang again. It was the frantic voice of a neighbor. "You need to come down to the playground! Now! There' s been an incident!" My blood ran cold. | flew down the stairs, Arjun right behind me. We burst out the door and ran down the street. We saw the flashing lights of an ambulance before we saw the scene itself. There was blood on the pristine woodchips of the playground. So much blood. My legs went weak, and | stumbled, my vision blurring with panic. Arjun caught me, his arm a steadying presence around my waist. The other children were huddled with their parents, sobbing. | couldn' t see Chloe. My heart seized in my chest. Then | heard her. A terrified, hiccupping cry. My head snapped in the direction of the sound. She was there, huddled by the slide. But she wasn' t alone. Carter was holding her, his arms wrapped tightly around her small, trembling body. They were both covered in blood. ---- Chloe saw me and struggled, reaching for me. "Mommy!" Carter' s grip on her didn' t loosen. His wild, haunted eyes found mine across the chaotic scene. "Why did you lie to me, Amira?" he rasped, his voice filled with a terrible, wounded anguish. "Why didn' t you just tell me you were leaving? Do you have any idea how long | waited for you?" "Let her go, Carter," | said, my voice shaking with a fury | could barely contain. My only thought was getting Chloe away from this unhinged man. "Let her go, and we can talk." He hesitated, then slowly, reluctantly, he released her. Chloe scrambled away from him and ran into Arjun' s waiting arms. The moment she was safe, | marched over to Carter and slapped him, the sound cracking through the air like a gunshot. He staggered back, a stunned look on his face. Then, he started to laugh. A wild, unhinged cackle that made the hairs on my arms stand on end. "Ma' am?" A paramedic gently touched my arm. "You shouldn' t have done that. He' s the one who saved the kids." | stared at him, confused. "There was a man... he wasn' t right in the head. He had a knife," the paramedic explained. "This gentleman," he gestured to Carter, who was still laughing weakly, "saw him going for the little girl He tackled him. He got stabbed ---- protecting her." My eyes shot to Carter' s chest. A dark, ugly stain was spreading across his shirt, originating from a spot right over his heart. | gasped, a wave of shock and a confusing mix of other emotions washing over me. He looked at me, the laughter dying in his throat, his face pale and slick with sweat. "Do you hate me, Amira?" he whispered, his body starting to crumple. "Even now?"