he penthouse required a k

ht flashed red, then green. The doors slid open,

worse in go

lip had swollen, splitting fresh when she tried to straighten her face. The coat she clut

the foyer and n

omewhere in the apartment, a clock ticked with mechanical precision,

Shep

ping her hands on her apron. The housekeeper

Oh my God, w

d up one ha

teen years, long enough to know the boundaries, long enough to recog

smooth, practiced. "I was at a gallery op

Chen. Or the ho

She softened it, seeing Brenda flinch. "No

your

enough to form the words. "Please. Warm

g the damage she couldn't hide. The limp. The way she held he

enda said final

kitchen, moving slow

hen she walked toward the master bedroo

uldn't pronounce. She pushed them open and stood in the doorway, looki

g at ten, smoothing the silk sheets until they looked like liquid si

used the guest room now, the one with the smaller win

r big enough for four people. She had picked the tile herself, in another life, wh

lk blouse was torn at the shoulder, stained with rust-colored water. Her skirt w

hower. Hot. As hot

it her bruised skin. Then the heat came, building, and she lean

n brown for

ooklyn with it. The fear. The desperation. The moment when

hot water started to cool, until she couldn't f

be, technically, thick Turkish cotton, monogrammed with ini

rofen, which wouldn't touch this pain. Ant

the sink. The bottle was dusty. She could

rror and pulled her wet

ite of subcutaneous tissue at its center, the edges already da

o a cotton pad and pr

the robe's belt, muffling the sound that tried to escape. Her eyes watered

rst of it. The lip, she left alon

No label. Dr. Chen's discreet handwriting on the prescription p

o her palm. White, oval

llowed

mbed into the guest bed and pulled the covers to he

yes and waited f

-

nd her

The boots.

ing an hour, each breath burning. The walls closed in, brick scr

, but her voice came out as a

rotting meat and sweet decay, and something moved in the darkness

o," she

in, blinding, and she saw his face a

her without

ammed down, and she was alone in th

ing at the sheets, her heart try

the Manhattan skyline through the window,

ow beside her. Cold.

broken, hunted sleep, and now she was awake in the

her breaths, waiting f

king up too. Probably reaching for his phone, checking markets, checking m

n sheets that smelled of Candace's perfume, her wheelchair folded

il sa

make her gasp. She pressed her hand against the bandage on he

idn't

s. The city spread below her, indifferent, magnificent, full of pe

ld surv

d worse. She wo

the way she'd held onto the broken glass in the alley, knowing

sun cleared the buildings, until th

t to find mo

re for whate

-