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Tara was holding onto the shack door handle, trying to pull it open. She couldn’t stay in here with Amelia and her lips. This was all so bad. Harriet was right. Tara was an animal.

She put her back into the effort, yanking as hard as she could, but the door refused to budge. ‘Fucking thing,’ she muttered to herself.

She gave up and slumped against the door, sliding into a hunch, her head tipping back against the wood.

‘What are you doing?’ Amelia asked quietly.

‘Trying to break the lock. I guess it’s my thing today,’ Tara said, trying to sound cool and casual.

Amelia came to the door. She turned the handle and gave it a push. It swung open easily, and Tara found herself on her back, looking up at the night sky.

‘It was never locked,’ Amelia told her.

Tara stood up in the doorway. ‘What?’

‘I told you, it’s not a prison. You could’ve left anytime.’

Tara turned to leave, feeling silly. ‘If nothing is keeping me here, then I’m leaving,’ Tara said over her shoulder.

But she wasn’t leaving the threshold. She was going to—in a second. She just needed to catch her breath.

‘Where are you going? The boat doesn’t come until tomorrow,’ Amelia pointed out.

Tara turned back to Amelia. ‘Anywhere but here,’ she said, harsher than she intended.

Amelia nodded, crossing her arms and staring at the floor. ‘I don’t blame you. I’d get away from me if I could.’

Tara’s heart skipped at Amelia’s words.

‘You’re not the problem,’ Tara said quickly. ‘I just… don’t want to be here anymore. This whole situation—it’s not what I thought it would be.’

Amelia uncrossed her arms and fixed her gaze on Tara’s face like she was piecing together a puzzle. ‘What did you think it would be?’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Tara snapped, her words sharper than she intended.

‘I want you to tell me if it’s me,’ Amelia said.

‘It’s not you,’ Tara said, too quickly. Too defensively. ‘I—’ She stopped herself, biting down hard on her lip.

Amelia’s eyes narrowed, watching her. She stepped closer, no longer gentle, her tone demanding. ‘Then what is it? And why were you breaking into that shed?’

Tara sighed. She couldn’t lie to Amelia anymore. She deserved the truth. She deserved to know who she’d just kissed. She’d come here to expose the plain, ugly truth, and now it was time to achieve her goal. It was just a shame that it was her plain, ugly truth.

‘I came here to write about Solhaven for a mainland newspaper,’ she said, each word leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. ‘To expose it. To uncover whatever secrets it’s hiding.’

Amelia’s face slid slowly into horrified astonishment. But Tara wasn’t done yet.

‘That’s why I was there when you got mugged. I was tracking you to get a story,’ she finished.

‘You came here to… expose us?’ Amelia whispered, her voice trembling.

Tara nodded. ‘But I didn’t know it would be like this. I didn’t expect to… care about you. I mean, I did care, after that mugger... But it wasn’t… I was trying to help you, but… I was mostly trying to help myself,’ Tara babbled.

Furious acceptance filled Amelia’s face. ‘So that’s it,’ Amelia said, her voice steady despite the hurt that laced each word. ‘You were never here for me. You were just here for your story.’

Tara’s heart cracked at the finality in Amelia’s voice. She opened her mouth to say something, to explain herself. But what was there to say? It was all hollow now.

Still, she had to try. ‘I did want to help with the application,’ Tara said. ‘If I could. And I still don’t know what I think about Solhaven, but I think you’re the most…’ Tara stopped. What the hell was she saying?

Amelia wasn’t hearing her anyway. She was shaking her head, disgusted. ‘You didn’t just come here to write a story. You came here to tear everything down, to make sure no one could live in peace. You made sure I couldn’t know peace.’

Tara reached for her outstretched hand. ‘Amelia, that’s not what I intended—’

But Amelia moved further away, the space between them becoming miles with one step. ‘No,’ she interrupted sharply. ‘No more words from you.’

Tara’s hand dropped. She wanted to fix this, wanted to make it right, but the truth was out now, and there was no way to take it back.

‘You should go,’ Amelia said, her voice broken. ‘That’s what you wanted to do. Please do it.’

Tara felt the weight of those words settle in her stomach. She knew she’d wrecked everything. But she couldn’t bring herself to leave just yet—not without some kind of resolution. Because it wasn’t as simple as Amelia thought, was it? There had been more than cold ambition at work in Tara.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Amelia didn’t look at her. She didn’t say anything.

Tara cast one final glance at Amelia. She stood frozen, devastation etched across her face. Tara shook her head at herself and turned towards the door. The sun had long dipped below the horizon, and the biting chill of a Solhaven evening rushed to meet her. She welcomed it, stepping out into the enveloping darkness.