Vance stiffened. "Don't talk like that, Evelyn."
His tone was tight, and his face had gone a few shades paler.
Evelyn tilted her head, still smiling. "Too blunt for you? Who else would indulge you like I do? Say you love me, baby."
I couldn't tell if she was teasing him or gutting him slowly in public.
Vance said nothing. He just stood there, jaw clenched, staring somewhere past her shoulder.
Whatever was unraveling between them, it ran deeper than tonight.
He looked like he might c***k open at any moment.
I didn't mean to stare, but I couldn't look away.
Somehow, all of it--sarcasm, shame, messy human drama--felt... weirdly normal.
And suddenly, I realized I wasn't thinking about the ghost anymore.
The fear that had gripped my chest like a vice had loosened.
My brain had latche
