atfiel

ttled Brielle, her voice a sharp accusation in the car. "Arlo! Are you eve

knew, yet whose absence felt like a gaping wound. Distracted by the old emails on my phone, Corinne' s precise, intelligent queries

lways was so boring. Head in the clouds, totally impractical. It's probably a good thing she's gone,

t she was a supernova contained. I remembered how she' d quietly retreat to her study when I brought clients home, avoiding the superficial chatter. I' d always seen it as social awkwardness, a mild emba

r again. Her absence wasn't a relief; it was a gaping void. The mansion, once a symbol of my triumph, now felt like a mausoleum. Everything was too clean, too silent, too perfectly ordered. Briel

' s voice snapped me back to the present. "Yo

settled into my soul. My focus at work was shattered. Deals I would have closed in

ne arrives, everything will be perfect. We'll be a real family." She reached for my hand, her manicured nai

red at her, feeling utterly numb. A flicker of Cor

tacama. A remote desert. I had dismissed it, laughed it off. A hobby. My gut clenched. There was something more, something

his hand. He placed it on my desk, his eyes briefly flicking to the "grant appl

e familiar logo of one of the city's most prominent law firms. My heart leaped into my throat. T

se of impending doom washed over me. This w

Hatfield, was printed in elegant, formal script. N

e same formal letterhead. My eyes scanned the words, cold and

.. Final Decree of Dissoluti

eft my lungs. The paper flu

inal. And my signature, obtain