Tom's face softened, he smiled and it made her breathe easier. "Finally you understand," he said. "Rich people are a mess underneath, but we—" he squeezed her as if to prove it, "we mess together. We can do this. We can find work, save, build a home that is ours." He pulled back to cup her face, his thumb gentle on her cheek. "We will change our life. We will run if we have to. We will keep each other." His voice trembled with hope, and for the first time that night Stella believed in the possibility of ordinary happiness.
Still, a cold thread of fear tugged at her. Leo was so dangerous, she feared he would come behind her again to harm her. She still feared he would kill her. The fever she had once imagined at the thought of being his wife had curdled into dread.
