Time steeps rain, waits for aftertaste to bloom

The cemetery stank of wet soil and sewage. I was still on my knees when Luke’s shadow fell across me, tall and cold against the beam of the floodlight.

“Tell me where she is,” he said. “Vivian’s mother. You have ten seconds.”

“I told you, I don’t—”

His grip tightened on the urn. More ashes spilled, dissolving into the muck below. My chest seized like something inside me had been ripped out.

“Luke, please. That’s my mother—”

He crouched, voice low. “What’s really going on, Anna? You want out of this marriage? Back to Ryan? Because I swear, if you’re using this as your exit—”

I stared at him. “How do you even know about Ryan? About… before?”

Something flickered in his eyes, gone as fast as it came. “Stop changing the subject.”

“You’ve come back too, haven’t you?” I whispered. “From before. You remember.”

He laughed, but it was sharp and humorless. “You’re not making sense. And you’re wasting my time.”

The urn tipped further. A gray cascade fell into the pit.

I broke. “Fine. Keep your damn ashes. Just give her back to me—whole—and I’ll sign the divorce papers tonight.”

For a moment, he looked almost startled. Then his jaw set like steel. “So eager to leave, huh?”

“Anything,” I said. “Just… stop.”

A phone rang behind us. Vivian stepped into the light, her silk blouse glowing like a halo. “Luke,” she said breathlessly, “there’s news. The kidnappers will only deal with Anna.”

Her eyes flicked to me, brimming with false relief. “Please, sister. Whatever our differences, just help me get Mom back. I’ll… I’ll even get on my knees if I have to.”

Before I could answer, she sank onto the wet ground in front of me, palms together in mock supplication.

Then she leaned closer, her breath hot against my ear. “You’ll never beat me. You didn’t last time, and you won’t now. You want your precious ashes? Crawl.”

“What?”

“On your knees,” she said, smiling without warmth. “Ten bows. Then clean the mud off my shoes with your tongue.”

My fists clenched. “I never touched your mother. Stop this.”

Her nails trailed down my cheek, sharp enough to break skin. “I’ll do more than stop. I’ll feed your mother’s ashes to my dog. That’s if there’s any left.”

Something inside me collapsed. My mother’s face flashed in my mind, the weight of her urn in my arms in another life.

I bowed. Once. Twice. Ten times. Mud streaked my hair, the taste of humiliation metallic in my mouth.

Vivian laughed—a sound like broken glass scattering. “Oh, Anna. You think this gets you anything? That urn was full of my dead dog. Your mother’s been gone since day one. Luke knows.”

I froze. The world tilted. “You’re lying.”

She stood, brushing off her skirt, eyes gleaming. “Believe what you want.”

Luke returned from the edge of the cemetery, his voice sharp. “Let’s go.”

I rose slowly, my knees screaming. “You knew,” I said.

His eyes narrowed. “Get in the car, Anna.”

The cold was deep in my bones now, but it wasn’t the air. It was the truth—the way it stripped you bare.

I laughed once, brittle. “You’ve taken everything from me, Luke. And you don’t even see what you’ve lost.”