ca

twenty

y knuckles against the bathroom

le

atience flaring in my

, I kicked t

pt

ins fluttering in the wind like restless gh

ire e

ran

air. She was being impossible. A tantrum. That's all this was. S

ing to play

backward glance. I drove str

rk when I

?" I s

the marble walls, ho

y, there was a crystal vase filled with fresh lilies. Usu

ed of nothing

ry was there. Even the engagement ring I had given her-the one she had thrown

't taken

s nowhere else to go. She has no money. Her accounts are frozen.

lf a stiff dr

ays p

a w

gan to grate on me, turning

to my suit. I couldn't find the file on the port deal. Elena always organized

s the one who calibrated the mac

taring at her empty d

I muttered to the dust m

gainst the mahoga

sign of

creen, a muscle t

I type

ia is asking if you're coming over. She needs

ut the algorithm. I had to explain basic encryption to her thre

the way she understood the complexit

d for the door, needing to

dead in th

boots w

ht she stood outside my ga

ut, heavy and leaden. A feelin

rtai

oulders back. She was bluffin

away, gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles turned whit

as d