The buzzer sounded at eleven in the morning. Three short bursts, like someone leaning on it with purpose.

I was upstairs in the sitting room with my mother, halfway through a second cup of tea I wasn't drinking, when Mrs. Callahan appeared in the doorway with an expression I'd never seen on her before — something between concern and irritation.

"There's a woman at the gate," she said carefully. "She's asking for Mrs. Hawkins. Both of you."

My mother set down her cup. "Name?"

"Berkley Salazar."

I felt the name land in my chest like a stone dropped into still water. My mother's jaw tightened, just slightly, the only outward sign she'd heard anything at all.

"Tell her to leave," I said.

Mrs. Callahan hesitated. "She's — quite loud, ma'am. There are people stopping on the sidewalk."

My mother stood. Smoothed the front of her blouse with one hand, a gesture so automatic I don't think she knew she'd done it. "Then we'll handle it."

She looked at me. Waited.

I stood too.

—

We could hear her before we reached the door.

"I know you're in there!" Berkley's voice carried through the iron gate, high and sharp, designed for an audience. "You think you can just walk away? He's *mine* now. Do you hear me? Stay out of Aden's life. Stop clinging to a man who chose better!"

I stopped three steps from the door. My mother didn't. She walked straight to it, heels clicking on the marble foyer floor, and pulled it open.

The sound cut off mid-sentence.

Berkley stood on the other side of the gate, one hand still raised like she'd been about to press the buzzer again. She was dressed for this — tailored coat, leather gloves, hair perfect. She'd rehearsed this moment. I could see it in the way she held herself, shoulders back, chin up, like she was walking into a room she owned.

Then she saw us.

My mother stepped onto the front stoop. I followed, slower, and stood beside her. We didn't say anything. We didn't need to. The gate between us and Berkley might as well have been a continent.

Berkley recovered first. She always did. "So you finally show your face," she said, looking at me. "I was starting to think you'd run off somewhere to cry."

"No," I said quietly. "I've been here."

"Good." She smiled, thin and sharp. "Then you can hear me clearly. Aden doesn't want you anymore. He hasn't wanted you for years. You were a placeholder. A *habit*. And now that he's free, you need to accept that and move on."

My mother made a soft sound in her throat. Not quite a laugh. Almost.

Berkley's eyes flicked to her. "Something funny?"

"Only your confidence," my mother said, voice perfectly even. She stepped forward, one hand resting lightly on the iron gate between them. "You seem to be under the impression that you've won something."

"I have."

"No, dear." My mother's smile didn't reach her eyes. "You've mistaken proximity for position. Let me clarify a few things for you, since you've come all this way."

She paused. Let the silence stretch just long enough to make Berkley shift her weight.

"My daughter," my mother continued, "is the designer behind *Lumière by E.H.* Perhaps you've heard of it. Three international awards. Commissioned by every major luxury house in Europe. The waiting list for a custom piece is currently eighteen months."

Berkley's face went very still.

"The Hawkins family," my mother went on, "holds controlling interest in biotech ventures across four continents, a luxury goods portfolio worth more than the Russell family has ever been worth, and enough capital to make or break any company we choose. The fortune you think you've attached yourself to?" She tilted her head slightly. "It's a rounding error."

I watched Berkley's expression drain. Not slowly. All at once, like someone had pulled a plug.

"You didn't win," I said. My voice came out steadier than I expected. "You just picked up something I stopped carrying."

Berkley opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.

"You didn't steal him from me," I said. "I simply stopped carrying something worthless."

My mother nodded once to the security guard stationed near the gate. He stepped forward, polite but immovable.

"Ms. Salazar," he said. "You need to leave the property."

Berkley didn't move at first. She just stared at me, face white, mouth working like she was trying to find the script she'd lost. Then the guard touched her elbow, gently, and she stumbled backward on her own heels, catching herself on the sidewalk.

The gate swung closed with a soft, final click.

I watched her through the bars. She stood there a moment longer, coat pulled tight around her, the small crowd of neighbors and passersby watching from a careful distance. Then she turned and walked away, unsteady, smaller than she'd been five minutes ago.

I turned back toward the house.

That's when the edges of my vision started to blur.

I blinked. It didn't clear. The steps in front of me tilted slightly, like the ground had shifted under my feet. I reached for the railing. Missed.

"Esme?"

My mother's voice sounded far away. I tried to answer. My mouth wouldn't form the words. My hands were shaking — no, my whole body was shaking, a tremor that started deep in my chest and spread outward like something breaking apart from the inside.

I felt my knees give.

My mother caught me before I hit the stone. Her arms came around me, tight and desperate, and I heard her voice, sharp and loud in a way I'd never heard it before.

"Call an ambulance! Now!"

I tried to tell her I was fine. I tried to say I just needed a minute. But the words wouldn't come, and the world kept tilting, and all I could do was hold on to her coat and let the shaking take me under.