's

Tuesday afternoon, leaning against my c

face, every tell, every lie disguised as love. He looked the

in his pockets, that familiar half

haven't slept

saw the news. Billionaire husband. T

ms. "What do yo

e never rea

. I left the key on a windowsill

e isn't real. You met him, what, three days after we bro

ere he wanted them to. He h

l enough,

't marry women like you for the long term.

ore. In different ways, different fights, but always the

an

vy

Low. Calm. Familiar now in a

his coat, his expression unreadable. He looked at Daniel the way

. "I didn't know

gaze shifted to Daniel, and something in his fa

tened. "I'm Da

essively, just present. He took my hand. His fingers l

in the way his jaw tightened, the way hi

iel said. "T

d. "You have somethin

your wife.

Almost friendly. "Then you won'

ted. I hel

ked back. She's not going to. And the fact that you're standing here, trying to make her feel s

s face

ill soft. "She forgot her charger and that was the best thing that ev

. Daniel opened his mouth, closed it

ed my hand. "

I could

ay. I did no

at the dashboard, my pulse still racing, m

have to do t

, I

worth yo

glanced at me. "Has he alwa

too sensitive. Why can't you just let things go? Women like you. The w

e, I believed him. I thought if I tried harder, cared less

ed over to the side of the r

white. When he turned to face me, his eyes were not cold. T

ailure," he sai

red a

bar and proposed marriage because you refused to let one man define your wo

ous at myself for crying, but he did not look away. He did not o

be kind," I said. "Tha

ed into the console and handed

e out wet and une

n. There's a

ity moved around us, indifferent, but inside the ca

t in the library

out the way I had walked away without looking back, the contract in Adri

e something to Daniel anymore. That

ld, show Daniel that I was not the woman who got discarded. But somewhere in t

faces. I wanted to stay because Lucy called this place family. I wanted to stay because

hat had nothing to do with rev

the ceiling. The rules were v

aybe that first night in the hotel bar when he said

for six months.

I was going to do