---- Chapter 6 Amira Osborne POV: | didn't cry. | didn't scream. | simply raised a hand to my throbbing cheek and looked at him, my eyes as empty and dead as my heart. "You' re right, Carter," | said, my voice eerily calm. "You were very brave." My complete lack of reaction seemed to unsettle him more than any outburst would have. He saw the abyss that had opened up between us, and for the first time, | think he was genuinely afraid. He reached for my hand, his voice softening. "Amira, listen... I'm sorry. Things have been stressful. Let' s just get through this. We' Il go pick out your wedding dress tomorrow, just like we planned." | stared at a point just past his shoulder, my gaze unfocused. The wedding dress. It felt like a lifetime ago that | cared about such things. From the moment he' d proposed, from the moment I' d agreed to put my own dreams on hold for his, it had all been a mistake. He must have sensed he was losing me, because he did something unprecedented. He turned to Francine, his tone firm. ---- "Francine, | think it' s best if you go home. Amira and | need some time alone." He spent the rest of the day by my side, a perfect model of a grieving, supportive fiancé. He even knelt with me before my mother' s empty memorial niche until late into the night. It was a masterful performance, but it was too little, too late. When we finally got home, she was there, waiting for us. Francine was huddled by our front door, wrapped in a thin blanket, shivering and looking utterly terrified. She threw herself into Carter's arms. "Carter! | was so scared! | kept hearing things... | think... | think it was Edie' s ghost. She 's angry with me!" He tried to gently push her away, glancing nervously at me. "Francine, don' t be ridiculous." She turned to me, her eyes wide and pleading. "Amira, you believe me, don't you? You have to understand, | feel so guilty." | let out a cold, short laugh. "Oh, I'm sure my mother' s spirit is around. But she wouldn' t waste her time on you. She' d be looking for the people who actually killed her." Francine' s face crumpled. She burst into loud, theatrical sobs. "| can' t stay here! ' m going to have a breakdown! |' Il... I' Il jump off the balcony!" That was all it took. Carter' s resolve crumbled. He whirled on me, his eyes blazing with fury. "Why are you so cruel? So ---- selfish? She is distraught, and all you can do is mock her! Sometimes | wonder why | ever thought | could spend my life with someone so heartless." The argument drew the neighbors out of their apartments. They stood in their doorways, watching, listening. Francine, ever the actress, played to the crowd, sobbing about how she was just a lonely widow who saw Carter as a son, and how | was a jealous, vindictive shrew. The neighbors, of course, took her side. | heard the whispers. "Poor woman." "That Amira is so cold." "This is just petty jealousy." Carter didn' t defend me. Not once. He simply wrapped his arm around Francine and led her inside our apartment, shutting the door firmly in my face.