Page 89 of The Vow Thief

King of Darkness:Tell me where you are. I will send a car.

King of Darkness:I am not asking again.

King of Darkness:Lily.

I scoffed.

Classic Dad. Threats disguised as fatherly concern. Promises that were really warnings. I imagined him pacing the mansion, barking orders, ready to blacklist half the country to find me.

Good luck, Dad. My location services had been off for forty-eight hours. Even his army of corporate soldiers needed breadcrumbs, and I had given them nothing.

Then the next string of messages loaded.

Sean.

His name looked wrong in a notification bubble. Too intimate. Too close.

Sean:Lily, where are you?

Sean:Where is my wife?

Sean:We should be tearing each other’s clothes off right now.

Sean:Tell me where you are. I will come get you.

Sean:Not Elliott. Just me.

Sean:If you want to disappear, I will take you somewhere he cannot reach you.

Sean:You do not have to see him again.

Sean:Lily, answer me.

My stomach tightened, his words slipped through me like liquor. I thought about answering him. Telling him where I was. Taking him up on his word to disappear.

Instead, I locked the phone and placed it face down in my lap.

My father wanted compliance.

Sean wanted possession.

And neither one of them understood what I wanted.

The balcony door opened behind me, soft enough that it barely disturbed the air. Mom stepped out, her expression cautious, as if she had been rehearsing her next words on the other side of the glass.

“Lily, listen,” she said quietly.“I do want to try again with your father. I have been ashamed for so long that staying away felt easier. But I am willing to try.”

I kept my gaze on the skyline.“That is on you, Mom. Truly. And for what it is worth, I would love to see you with him more than Sarah fucking Taylor.”

I heard the slight pause before she sat, the shift of fabric against the other balcony chair.“Tell me why you hate her.”

I turned to her slowly, my pulse steadier now than it had been minutes earlier when my phone filled with two worlds demanding me back.

“We are going to need a bottle of wine for that story, Mom.”