The brownstone looked the same as always. Same brick. Same steps. Same door that stuck a little when you turned the key.

Dante let himself in and stood in the foyer. Dark outside. Dark inside. He didn't turn on the lights.

He moved through the rooms by memory. Kitchen first. Her mug on the third shelf, handle facing out. He'd washed it once, three years ago, then put it back and never touched it again. The coat closet. Her winter coat on the second hook, navy wool with the torn pocket she'd kept meaning to fix. Upstairs. The bathroom. Her shampoo bottle in the shower, maybe a quarter full. He'd bought the same brand twice, kept the new bottle under the sink. Just in case.

He walked into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. His side. The sheets were clean. He washed them every two weeks. Kept everything exactly how it was.

Except it wasn't how it was. It was how it looked. There was a difference. He was starting to understand that.

His eyes went to the wedding photo on the wall. Silver frame. Her in white. Him in charcoal. Both of them smiling like they believed it.

He stood and crossed to the frame. Lifted it off the nail. It was heavier than he remembered.

He turned it over. The backing was cardboard, held in place with small metal tabs. He pressed one tab up. Then another. The backing came loose.

Something slid out and hit the floor.

A journal. Small. Leather. Dark blue.

He picked it up. The cover was soft, worn at the edges. He opened it.

Her handwriting. Careful. Slanted slightly to the right.

*March 14th*

*He asked me again today why I don't get jealous when he talks about Araceli. I told him I do. He said I don't show it enough. He said if I really loved him, I'd be more upset. So tonight when she texted him, I threw his phone across the room. I've never done that before. He looked at me like I'd finally said something true.*

Dante's throat went tight.

*April 2nd*

*I'm so tired. He keeps testing. I keep performing. Last night I told him I couldn't handle him seeing her for coffee. I said it made me feel crazy. I wasn't lying about feeling crazy—I am. But not because of her. Because I'm trying so hard to be the version of me he says he needs, and I don't know who I am anymore underneath it.*

He flipped forward. Page after page. Entries documenting every fight, every manufactured scene, every calculated moment of possessiveness.

*May 18th*

*He said he needs to know I'll fight for him. So I fought. I yelled. I cried. I told him I couldn't breathe when he wasn't here. He held me after and said, 'This is what love looks like.' I didn't tell him I'd rehearsed the whole thing in the car on the way home from work.*

Dante sat down on the floor. The journal open in his lap.

*June 9th*

*I think I'm pregnant. I haven't taken a test yet. I'm afraid to know. If I am, maybe it will fix this. Maybe he'll stop needing me to prove things. Maybe we can just be real.*

*June 11th*

*I am. Eight weeks. I'm going to tell him tonight.*

The next entry was the last one.

*June 11th—later*

*He's leaving again. Going to her place because she called crying about something. I asked him to stay. I asked him to just stand still for five minutes so I could tell him something important. He said we'd talk when he got back. I grabbed the knife off the counter. Not to hurt him. Not to hurt anyone. Just to make him stop moving long enough to hear me say I'm pregnant. I thought if he knew about the baby, everything would be different. I thought a child would give him something real to hold onto. I am so tired of performing. I just want to be real with him.*

Dante's hands were shaking.

He read it again. Then again.

She'd been pregnant. She'd been trying to tell him. She'd grabbed the knife to make him stop walking away.

And he'd had her committed the next morning.

He pressed his palms against his eyes. The journal slid off his lap onto the floor.

He didn't move for a long time.

When he finally stood, his legs felt unsteady. He left the journal on the floor. Left the frame face-down on the bed. Walked downstairs and out to his car.

He sat in the driver's seat and pulled out his phone.

Araceli answered on the second ring. "Dante. Hi."

"I need to ask you something," he said.

"Of course."

"The night before I had Juliet committed. What do you remember?"

A pause. Small. Precise. "I remember you called me. You were upset. You said she'd threatened you with a knife."

"What else?"

"You asked what you should do. I said you needed to protect yourself. That she wasn't safe."

Her voice was smooth. Symmetrical. Every word in exactly the right place.

"Did you ever visit her?" he asked. "At the facility?"

Another pause. "I sent flowers."

"That's not what I asked."

"I wanted to give you both privacy. It felt like the right thing."

"You never went."

"No. I thought—"

"Did you call? Check on her? Ask how she was?"

"Dante, I don't understand why—"

"Answer the question."

Silence.

"No," she said finally. "I didn't."

He hung up.

He sat in the car outside the brownstone and stared at the dark windows. Tried to see the last three years from Juliet's perspective instead of his own.

She'd been pregnant. She'd grabbed the knife to make him listen. He'd signed the papers without visiting her. Without calling. Without checking if she was safe.

And Araceli had never once asked how Juliet was.

He started the engine.

He needed to know what happened inside that facility. He needed to know everything.