a strange and su

ad. She blinked up at the ceiling, feeling disoriented an

yes was something

rimmed and far too extravagant for her minimal

ing wa

ue curtains she had carefully chosen for her bedroom. Instead, thick

as she sat up abruptly on her

oundings-dark wooden furniture, a grand dresser with expensive cologne

room. She wa

arpet she didn't recognize. Her heart pounded as she turned in circles while she took in every foreign detail in the room-the absence of her

the door while her mind raced with

been k

ob and twisted it frantically as she

t once. Like a s

of the

e Blackwood had stood beside

t he had walked away

filled car ride to this h

drunk last night as he prac

e handle while she release

e wasn't

e was marri

she didn't even know if she

lips just then as she thought

" she muttered as she ru

on the empty space where Nate had collapsed last nigh

tterly. He probably ran out the second he w

and forced back the st

climbed back onto the bed, curled her legs b

was stuck in a cold marriag

"Fantastic. Just what

the nightstand. Maybe someone had the decency

p with an incoming call. He

he wondered de

Some half-hearted, obligatory "Good morn

tared at the screen wh

ller ID, her stomach tw

sn't

someo

made her chest t