An entire day and night had passed...

Tessa must have come straight here after I left the Mercer residence.

When I saw her kneeling there, hunched and broken, it felt like my heart was being crushed in a vice.

Reynold Blake moved toward her, but I just stood frozen, unable to react.

It felt like an eternity before I finally forced myself to move. I knelt down beside her and softly whispered, "Tessa."

She flinched at the sound of my voice, then slowly lifted her ...