sidewalk. Serena stopped three feet away fr

lack Maybach idling at the curb

ping with poison. "You get kicked out of the house and imme

exhaustion. She didn't ev

e, Eleanor?" Ser

d out a crisp piece of paper. She held it betw

ered. "Pack your trash and leave New York. Go

in this city, you are a stain on the Sinclair na

spent far from this woman-the cold nights in unfamiliar beds, the birthdays that passed without a single phone call, the fragile daydreams she had constructed as a child to fill the v

dreams had loo

hat childish hope die

Eleanor smiled, th

ith slow, deliberate movements, she rip

eyes bulged. "Are yo

into tiny shreds. She threw her hand forward. The pieces of

lethal edge. "I am going to stay right here in New

e raised her hand, aiming a

ht Eleanor's wrist mid-air. She

ard, her back hitting

me here," Serena said, pointing at the b

shoulder as Eleanor screamed curses into the night. She heard

the sidewalk. Her shou

ep breath and

ll there. It waited in th

s fingers-a prop, perhaps, or an excuse to linger. His eyes were fixed on her, steady and patient.

felt like the first honest war

ed toward the only person who ha

e placed her hands on the edge of

still stand?" s

ent behind her, at the defiant set of her jaw, at the exhaustion she was too proud to name. Something shifted in his expression. It wasn't

e asked, though

ady, but her knuckles were white where she gripped the door frame. "I will play th

thing vulnerable crossed her

ntract," she added. "We

slow nod. He didn't smile. He didn't gloat. He simply accept

," he

her in the cold night air. For a moment they simply stood there, two people who had sp

ot grabbing, not demanding. An

The way he had stayed on the balcony. The way he had rolled down his window and waite

s. His fingers closed aro

"You're not spending ano

sting in his. Neither of them spoke. The silence between them was not awkward. It w

nto the eleva