MARRY YOUR KILLER
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Days After
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The days after the wedding passed like water through fingers.
Jay woke in the guest room. She dressed in the clothes she had worn before the wedding—black pants, black blazer, hair pinned up, face blank. She walked to the kitchen. Keifer was there, coffee in hand, his back to the door. He turned when she walked in. He handed her a mug. She took it. Their fingers didn't touch.
They sat at the table. They ate breakfast in silence. They talked about the war. They talked about her uncle. They talked about the money that was moving through Singapore, through Hong Kong, through accounts that closed the moment they found them.
They didn't talk about the wedding. They didn't talk about the contract. They didn't talk about the ring she had left on the nightstand.
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Ci N watched them from the hallway.
He watched them sit at the table, two feet apart, not touching, not looking. He watched them walk to the study together, close enough to feel each other's presence, far enough to pretend they didn't.
He watched Jay leave the study at night, her face calm, her steps steady, her door closing behind her before Keifer could reach it.
"They're not going to make it," he said.
Felix stood beside him. "It's been three days."
"It's been three days and they haven't touched. They haven't looked at each other. They haven't—" He stopped.
Felix waited.
"She took off the ring," Ci N said. "She put it on the nightstand. She hasn't put it back on."
Felix looked at the study door. It was closed. The house was quiet.
"Maybe she will," Felix said.
Ci N shook his head. "She won't."
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Percy found Keifer in the garden at midnight.
He was sitting on the steps, his hands empty, his face turned toward the house. The window above him was dark. Jay's window. The guest room. The room she had chosen every night since the wedding.
Percy sat beside him.
"You're sitting on the steps," Percy said.
"I'm sitting on the steps."
"You've been sitting here every night."
Keifer didn't answer.
Percy looked at the house. At the dark window. At the room where his sister was sleeping alone.
"She took off the ring," Percy said.
"I know."
"She hasn't put it back on."
"I know."
Percy was quiet for a moment. Then he put his hand on Keifer's shoulder.
"You could ask her to put it back on," he said.
Keifer looked at him. His face was tired. His eyes were dark.
"She signed a contract," he said. "Two years. Then she leaves."
Percy stared at him. "You signed the same contract."
"I signed it because I was scared. She signed it because she was smart."
Percy's hand dropped. "What's the difference?"
Keifer looked at the window. At the dark glass. At the woman who was sleeping in his house, in his guest room, in a bed that was hers because she had chosen it.
"She's never going to break a promise," Keifer said. "Not even for me."
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Jay stood at her window.
The garden was dark. The steps were dark. Keifer was sitting there, alone, his face turned toward the house. She watched him for a long time.
The contract was on her nightstand. Twenty-three pages. Two years. A promise to leave.
She had made that promise. She had signed it. She had meant it.
She looked at her hand. The skin was pale where the ring had been. She hadn't put it back on. She wouldn't. She couldn't. Because if she put it on, she would want to keep it on. And if she wanted to keep it on, she would want to stay. And if she wanted to stay, she would have to break the promise she had made to herself.
She pulled the curtains closed.
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Lyra found Alex in the kitchen at three in the morning.
He was standing at the counter, a cup of coffee in his hand, his phone on the table. He looked up when she walked in.
"You should be sleeping," she said.
"I could say the same to you."
She walked to the counter. She poured herself a cup of coffee. She stood beside him.
"Jay took off her ring," Lyra said.
Alex looked at her. "I know."
"She's not going to put it back on."
He was quiet for a moment. Then he put his hand on hers. His fingers were warm.
"She might," he said.
She looked at his hand on hers. She didn't pull away.
"She won't," she said.
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Care found Cole in the garden at dawn.
He was standing by the fence, looking at the roses. They were blooming again. Red and white and pink, the colors she had planted after the mud fight.
"You're here early," she said.
"I didn't sleep."
"Neither did I."
He turned. His face was tired. His eyes were dark.
"Jay took off her ring," he said.
"I know."
"She's not going to put it back on."
Care walked to the fence. She stood beside him.
"She might," she said.
He looked at her. "Do you believe that?"
She looked at the house. At the window where Jay's room was. At the curtains that were still closed.
"No," she said.
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The days turned into weeks.
Jay and Keifer worked in the study. They tracked the money. They followed the leads. They built the case against her uncle. They didn't touch. They didn't look at each other longer than necessary. They were partners. Allies. Two people who had signed a contract to leave each other.
Ci N stopped watching. He stopped hoping. He sat in the living room with Felix, his phone in his hand, his eyes on the door.
Percy stopped trying to make Keifer laugh. He stopped trying to make him talk. He just sat beside him, silent, waiting.
Aries watched their sister. Watched her walk through the house like a ghost. Watched her sit in the study with Keifer like he was a stranger. Watched her close her door every night before he could reach it.
Yuri stood in his corner. He didn't say anything. He didn't need to.
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The contract sat on Jay's nightstand. She looked at it every night before she slept. She looked at the pages. At the signatures. At the promise she had made.
She didn't love him.
She said it to herself like a prayer. Like a wall she was building brick by brick.
She didn't love him.
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END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN