wing had blue wallpaper and

he blood that kept seeping through. Her hands were steady. They'd been steady

d. Only that something had ended.

pened with

orway. He'd changed into fresh clothes, dark trousers and a white shirt ope

ut," s

eyes found hers in t

mething." He stepped into the room, closi

powder compact. Her fingers found the edge

h on him now, expensive and peaty, the wa

ose enough that she could feel his heat through her t

o face him, putting the chair between t

ing her wrist. Not gentl

ff the

ha

g like the polished man who spoke to boards and

st the right to see anything about me.

r, pushing her toward the bed. She stumbled, caught herself on the post, but

til

buttons of her jacket, fumbling,

fter the alley, after she realized no one was coming to save her. But he was stronge

crie

e on her collar, his face inches from

iga

. Saw them find what

ack, the marks of hands that had held her against

d from it, leaving him gray, shock

stion. A promise, cold an

hone

came from the nightstand, from the private li

's head

the shift in his eyes, the calculation

" she w

ed for t

ice rising. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare answe

off. Not hard

the phone

ent, everything she'd never heard directed

t half-open, her bruises exposed,

l with concern, with fear, with the desperat

s already moving, grabbing his discarded jacke

standing in the doorway now, h

d. "The power's out.

shed for him. "I know. Everyon

iga

done. Whatever this is, whatever we were pre

ent of doubt, the flicker of some

. A text, probably. Candace

htened. "Sh

I d

urned, his shoulders s

with a sound like a perio

his footsteps fade, to the distant sound of a car sta

she s

mirror, at the bruises and the bandages and the woman who'd let

et. She found the scis

ll, the buttons that had cost more than her first car. She cut

lled her hair back, severe and tight. She found her highest

ed in th

was a stranger. Or ma

own the stairs, past the serv

n't loo

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