Chapter 109

• Ryder and I stood on the balcony staring at the evening stars. His face still had bruises, and my ankle was still bruised that I needed a walking stick to get around. The silence between us was heavy with everything we couldn't say inside that suffocating dining room.
• "I can't do it," he said finally, his voice barely above a whisper. "I can't sit there and pretend to be happy about their wedding when it's destroying us."
• I leaned against the marble railing, careful not to put too much weight on my bad ankle. "It's not about us, Ryder. It's about them."