How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

She turned around calmly.

Watts was standing just a few steps behind, his expression unreadable.

He watched her, thoughtful, as if weighing something only he understood.

"How am I supposed to sleep when there's still no word from Jarrod?" she replied, sidestepping his question with the safest answer she could muster.

Watts slipped one hand into his pocket, a faint, elusive smile tugging at the corners of his eyes. "I thought maybe you just didn't trust me. Maybe you were planning to run away."

His words sent a chill crawling up Elodie's spine for no reason she could name.

She met his gaze head-on. “It's the middle of the night. I'm in a foreign country. Where exactly would I go?"

Watts shrugged. "Fair point. Things are a little chaotic around here right now."

Quietly, Elodie slipped her phone back into her coat pocket, then started walking slowly toward the house. "How are my colleagues doing? Are they alright?"

"They're fine. I'm planning to arrange for them to head home tomorrow," Watts replied breezily, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

But Elodie's guard was up-more than ever before.

used to think of Watts as a bright, easygoing young man, open and sincere. But after everything that had happened, she realized how dangerous he truly was

the house with a calm, unhurried stride, giving nothing

her

never really thought about it before, but now, just strolling quietly

door and finally looked at him. "How long

and replied, "Depends on work, really. But, to be honest, things aren't looking stable around here. How about

"Mr. Aldridge, you do realize my husband's still missing? Would it really be appropriate

"my husband" made Watts' smile falter,

never minded that title before, but now, hearing it from her

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leaned back against the railing sitting so he could look at Elodie at eye level. For once, his face was free of that

I'd help you find him. Your safety comes first. Besides, everyone back home

he spoke, something flickered in his eyes—something he himself didn't fully grasp. He reached out, as

Other women held no appeal for him; he never

aside from Patricia Aldridge, no one had ever caught his

Elodie made him want to get closer, to cross that invisible

a step

his touch, deliberately

faint smile at the corner of Watts' mouth.

straight through her—her dislike, her