y reached for her, but all he touched was the smooth, untouched fabric. Panic clawed at

g on the pillow. Her handwri

this anymore

again, his hand tightening over the thin str

an empty sensation s

e, dialing her number. Straight to voice

y. Her apartment-open. He even went to her office, a place she was already slowly losing touch wi

in his place was a specter haunting his own life. Appointments were avoided.

him with wary disappointment. Welles Enterprises, his

mble with a cold, hard satisfac

he smell of whiskey still on his breath. "Pathetic. All be

d, but the order was not fol

ou wanted, isn't it? A world where you corrupt eve

appearing when he came into a room. His oldest even f

d spinning with memory-Maya's smile, her laughter, the

s gone. And he

cold marble floor of his office, phone in hand, her numb

eed you. I'm disintegrating without you." He spoke the wor

nd him, as he was smothered in regret

h was, he didn't

st hi

with the smell of whiskey, abandoned glasses piling up in the corner. Meetings blurred into

ere a daily ritual, each statement biting with greater venom than the last. His children

that gnawed at him every time he thought of Maya. Whe

scent was different, the streets unfamiliar, but that was what it was all ab

alls bare but hopeful. With the funds she had saved, she bought

ent of old pages and quiet conversation with pleasant strangers. She spent nights walk

ut think of Alex-his hands, his soft-spoken words. But she force

feeling of peace. But even as she smiled at customers, laughed at co

as recovering. She tol

wake up, her hand involuntarily seeking

aos she had fled. Her days at work were spent in a cozy cafe on the corner of a bustling street

. Maya would help with pastries in the mornings and serve customers with a shy

comfortable chairs. Maya derived comfort from routine, from frugality. She walked in quiet

uld be Alex or, at least, not Evelyn. But she never answered, an internal silent strugg

her. "Maya, we're having a small party to celebrate the birthd

but then smiled.

p but laugh, her guard slowly coming down. People danced, Rosa's grandchildren played tag, a

p at the star-filled night sky, a throbbing hollowness cre

ty, she wasn't the other woman. She

she tried to

coffee wafting about her. She had arrived in this city to disappear, to breathe, to recreate a life free from shadows.

ut uncomfortably, and a cold sweat leapt across her forehead. She held tight to the edge of the tabl

she glanced about, fright

happeni