Till Death Do Us Apart
18. Vivian’s Sacrifice
Chapter 18
Caleb drove Sophia to his grandfather’s estate that same evening, her sniffling filling the silence the whole way there, bitter complaints about her pitiful life spilling out one after another.
His grandfather brightened the moment he saw the baby, reaching for her immediately.
“Have you set a date yet?” the old man asked, bouncing her gently.
“There isn’t going to be a wedding,” Caleb said. “I’m not marrying Sophia.”
• • •
Sophia stared at him. “Why?”
Caleb didn’t answer. He left without another word, and Sophia broke down the moment the door closed behind him.
His grandfather set the baby down and reached over to pat Sophia’s shoulder awkwardly. He’d never much cared for her, but her tears were still a problem that needed managing.
“It’s her fault,” Sophia said through her sobbing. “Tania. She’s ruining everything.”
“The wedding will happen,” the old man said firmly. “I’ll see to it myself.”
Her father arrived an hour later, summoned by a phone call Sophia had made the moment Caleb’s car pulled out of the driveway.
“That woman hasn’t learned her lesson,” Sophia told him, wiping her eyes. “She just keeps taking and taking.”
Mr. Stanton’s face went very still.
• • •
Mr. Stanton paid a visit to an old friend that night, a man who ran most of the ice city’s underground business from a back office no one bothered to ask questions about.
He left a thick envelope on the desk between them.
“There’s a woman I need handled,” he said. “Quietly.”
Back at the condo, Tania took her evening medication and settled in with a mug of hot chocolate, unaware of the arrangement being made across town. The doorbell rang not long after.
Vivian stood on the other side, bundled up against the cold, grinning. “Get dressed. I’m taking you sightseeing. You’ve been cooped up in this condo for weeks.”
Tania glanced around for Greta, who was strangely nowhere to be found, her usual post by the front door empty.
She grabbed her coat before anyone could stop her.
• • •
Vivian showed her every corner of the city worth seeing, dragging her through boutiques and rooftop cafes until Tania actually laughed a few times, the sound surprising even herself.
They were walking through the mall’s main atrium when the first shot cracked out.
People scattered screaming in every direction. Tania barely had time to register what was happening before a second round of shots answered the first, this time from men in plain civilian clothes who seemed to appear out of nowhere, returning fire toward the gunmen.
Vivian grabbed her arm and pulled her behind a display counter.
A man rounded the corner with a knife already raised, moving straight for Tania.
Vivian shoved her sideways.
The blade caught Vivian instead, low in the side, her breath leaving her in one sharp gasp before she crumpled.
• • •
Tania stayed by Vivian’s side through the entire ambulance ride, pressing a cloth against the wound with shaking hands, apologizing over and over even though Vivian was too pale to respond.
At the hospital, she sat in the waiting room turning one question over and over. Those gunmen had been aiming for her. She was sure of it. And the men in plain clothes who’d fought them off, whoever they were, she had no idea.
Ashton burst through the doors an hour later, his composure gone completely, tears already falling before he’d even reached the desk.
Vivian woke not long after, weak but smiling faintly up at him. “I’m okay. Stop crying, you big baby.”
Tania watched them together and felt something ache in her chest that had nothing to do with envy exactly, and everything to do with how easily they loved each other, without any of the weight she carried with Caleb.
“I’m so sorry,” she told Ashton quietly, once Vivian had drifted back to sleep. “I won’t contact either of you again. I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Ashton shook his head. “We’re still friends, Tania. That’s not changing.”
He pulled her aside a moment later, glancing back to make sure Vivian was still asleep.
“My mother’s been acting strange since you visited,” he said quietly. “Come with me. I want to ask her something, and I think you should be there when I do.”