viev

ur dimly lit apartment, my knee

windowpane, a relentless rhythm that

da

ce Don Arlington Foley had left m

f deafenin

z was

finalize the details of the "plan." B

n the peeling

days

ch. Until freedom. Or un

e silence, I flicked on the s

g over the hum of the storm. Then, a headline flas

ENGAGED TO SOCIALI

sure I had

eigh

so he had claimed. They had a histo

ld was she mar

made me jump, my heart h

authoritative. The knock of someone who

ed, then

stood in the hallway, suckin

immediately. Mr. Henderson. The f

is voice devoid of warm

he tiny living room, their eyes sweeping over the wobbl

r briefcase on the ricket

ather s

self from their judgment. "To apologiz

He didn't even blink. "T

pen and pulled out a thick

tion, the Don has decided to formally strip you of

ry, humorless sound t

I was alrea

rmanent. And it co

le sheet of pa

f financial improprieties durin

im, incredulous. "I n

f discussing the weather. "To protect the family image during the

sted. They wan

villain so the golden boy cou

igh?" I asked, my voi

lickered, a crack

about the

onfession. If I signed it, I would be

if I

s venture might run into... s

od ran

They were w

espond, the door

igh wa

ring. Instead, a stark white band

dump," she sneered

rectly in front of me. She looked frantic,

sign it, Gen.

sked, step

reamed suddenly, the veneer

rembling finger

He went craz

d uncomfortably, a

Henderson warned, his

er desperate eyes

finds out he hit me, the engagement is off.

, processing th

at? Being a thief? Just so people talk abo

eady nothing! You're already the disappointment

ked a

cruel. But beneath the

They stood like vultures, wait

ai

was a child. Just

pping stone. N

picked u

d, a triumphant

him dead

ped the pe

he white paper, bloom

" I

gasped,

an't s

ust

into pieces, the sound s

air, watching them rain down

t the world see his teeth. I a

flushed a violent

egret this,

or and held it ope

t. All

sed me, looking at me with

ree?" she whispered

ea what chains

aving silence

ked it, the bolt clicking

floor, the adrenali

e shaking un

had defied the entire

aining my fingers, dark and p

of a fire that was goin