Chapter 181

• One year later.
• The Hamptons air was warm with salt and sun, and the backyard buzzed with quiet joy—champagne glasses clinking, ocean breeze rustling the linen canopy, laughter drifting from where Derek’s sister tried to coax a giggle out of Grayson with a ridiculous puppet.
• Gemma stood barefoot in the grass, dress light and loose, hair in a soft braid, a glass of iced tea in one hand, and Avery in the other—her daughter wide-eyed and clinging to her neckline like she owned it.