The panic was gone, replaced by a syrupy, feigned sweetness. "You

ash from the woman's change in demeanor was dizzying. One minute she was an

innocent smile that didn't reach her eyes. "He said you were traveli

ce. It was the men's version of a set. Ava knew because she had the women's version sitting in a gift-wrapped box in her luggage. They were the matching couple's watches sh

travels, their friends, their milestones-was now covered in a collage of new memories. Liam and Chloe kissing under the Eiffel Tower, a trip Ava and Liam had planned for next year. Liam and Chloe laughin

had been erased. Not just from the apartme

. She gestured around the room. "Liam said the old style was so cold and impersonal. He said it felt like li

he was a conqueror, boasting of her victory. She was telling Ava that everythi

ch pressure at work lately," Chloe said, her voice dropping into a confidential, sympathetic whisper as she wiped a non-existent speck of dust from the glass. "He s

ress. She was the "hard place." This young, cloying woman was his "soft place." It was a narrative so twisted,