Page 59 of Insidious

Silence when I enter the room.

I shake it off and finally say the thing I’ve been turning over in my head for hours.

“I would appreciate it if we don’t separate immediately.”

Chapter 16

Luna

For a second, he just looks stunned.

Then he moves fast. Too fast. He is around the bed before I finish speaking.

His hand grabs mine, fingers wrapping around my arm before I can pull away.

Instinct makes my skin crawl where we touch. I instinctively try to shake him off.

But he holds on. Not tight enough to bruise, but firm enough to keep me close.

“Please, don’t,” he says, voice shaking now. “Don’t say it like that. Don’t—don’t make it sound like it’s already decided. Just … let me try to explain.”

I still, because I don’t have the strength to fight him. And I want to know why. Why?

“I felt so alone,” he says, the words tumbling out. “I didn’t know what to do, Luna. You were there, but … you weren’t. And I-I didn’t know how to reach you.”

I say nothing.

“Never should have gone to the pub with them. I regret that. I regret all of it.”

Of course you do. Now you regret it.

“After so many years, it’s easy to forget the bad,” he continues. “You just remember the good. Chloe … she just—she seemed supportive. It was nice, sitting together as a group, talking about the old days. She said she wanted to be a friend like before. Said she was depressed back then, but now she is on medication and doing better. She seemed a totally different person from the one who forced me to marry her.”

I don’t react. I knew what she was the moment I met her. I guess he was too close to see it. Or maybe he didn’t want to.

“She messaged constantly after that. About everything. And nothing. And it was like …” He exhales shakily. “Like turning the radio on when the house feels too empty. Remember?” he asks quietly. “When I was away for training in France, and you said you used to leave the radio on? I told you it might help when you said the house was too quiet.”

I remember.

“She messaged every day,” he goes on. “At least a few times. I replied maybe once or twice. It just became … a thing. A routine. I swear, she never came onto me. And I just felt she was a sounding board.”

A routine. Someone to share your life with? Then what was I?

“All the messages are still on my phone,” he adds quickly, reaching for his phone. “I can show you. You’ll see—it wasn’t—”

“I don’t want to look. I don’t want to know about the secret life you were leading with your ex.”

“Luna—”

“I said I don’t want to look right now,” I shout, then regret it when Amelie starts to fuss before settling.

Isaac stops, but he doesn’t let go of my arm.

“After the delivery …” he says more quietly, “I messaged you too. All the time. And you—”

“Don’t.”

“You almost never replied,” he finishes anyway. “Just … single words. Mostly nothing.”