The danger was gone.

But the old life was gone too.

“We should pack,” Damon said, looking up at me from the floor. “The SUV is heated. I have the plane waiting at the county airport.”

“I am not going to Chicago, Damon,” I said.

He paused, his hands tightening slightly around Leo’s back.

“Nora, it is safe now,” he said. “The estate is secure. You don’t have to hide anymore.”

“I know I don’t have to hide,” I said. “That is why I am staying.”

I walked over to the kitchen table and sat down.

“I am not going back to your house,” I said. “I am not going back to being the wife who waits in the background.”

Damon stood up slowly, still holding Leo.

“I don’t expect you to hide,” he said. “Things will be different.”

“They will be different because I am making them different,” I said.

I looked him in the eyes, refusing to look away.

“I have already contacted a real estate agent in Marquette,” I said. “I am buying the old stone house on the cliff. The one with the fenced garden.”