Until the Light Returns

The morning Marlena Evans Black returned home from Greece, the sunlight hit the floor of their townhouse like a warm kiss.

John Black had made sure of it. He had opened the curtains in every room, even the ones she wouldn't go into yet. Light, he told himself, would help. Light was honest. Safe. He didn't want her walking back into shadows-not after what she'd survived.

Marlena stepped inside slowly. She wore a dark blue sweat suit that made her look fragile, though John knew better. She had survived Megan Hathaway's twisted captivity, the chamber, the drug-induced darkness. She had clawed her way back to life.

But surviving didn't mean healing.

Not yet.

"Home," John whispered, pressing a kiss to her temple.

She didn't answer. Her eyes scanned the room like a stranger seeing a museum of her former life.