at on the floor. Time dissolve

stand broke the silence. A calenda

irthday

escaped her lips. Her

th wedding

ft k

askin's voice,

't answer.

ass of water and two painkillers, placing them on the nightstand. She didn't say a word. Her e

pills. The water was

e's gone. Mr. Sterling had his driver take her home

ever

anaged. Her voice did

or. "Shall I bring you some bre

made her stomach t

ced herself to stand.

full of words she couldn't speak. She slip

wrist. She watched the steam rise, clouding the mirror, until her own reflecti

r hair. She put on a simple, h

se to armor as s

rang. The caller ID read: Ster

three times be

indifference. "Mr. Sterling has requested your presence at the Tiffany & Co. flagship on Fift

iewing. On

iversa

e that ignited in her chest. Five years of evidence that he didn't care, and still her heart

there,"

cles, a soft rose for her lips, a brush of color on cheeks that had go

iffany's at thre

ring under the iconic blue walls. Everything here was beautiful. Everything was designed to

when her new husband had looked at her across their honeymoon su

or marked Private Salon and

rhead. The walls were the same iconic blue, and everywhere there were mirrors-

as alrea

their shoulders were alm

acrid taste of humiliation. She gave a tight, polite nod and took a se

wife. His attention was

age pieces," he said. "Better

e smiled, touching his arm lig

et box with the reverence of a priest handling a sacred re

on white satin

white at the center, fading to a milky translucence at the edges. The setting w

s breat

st month-Sotheby's, the estate sale of a European countes

olding up the catalog. "Look at the sto

g his phone. "Mm,"

e'd heard. She hadn'

reathed, her eyes fixed on the neck

ace. He didn't look at Dap

register of intimacy Daphne had never been permit

fastened the clasp. His fingers brush

ld mirror, her fingers tracing the d

aking, Damian

of her chair. The velvet was soft. Everyt

he light. "Though I feel rather guilty. Isn't this t

ce that took in her stiff posture, her white-knuckled grip on the chair,

tone flat. "She simply needs to learn that

. She summoned every ounce of her

ing well. Ple

lights of the store were too br

them called

use, the silence w

a hundred times before, waiting for a husband who never came home to her. The city glittered

l. She di

, the doorb

organ still hadn't learned. She went to th

open

sn't

his face professionally impassive.

aphne S

creeping over he

r you, from M

ook it. The envelope was he

the first page leaped

CE PE

left h

hday gift. His an

is," she whispered, t

almly blocked it with his foot. A practi

te elevator doors ope

stepp

was on

stone necklace still glittered at her throat. She looked like she had stepp

oorway, the divorce papers c

Damian's arm and glided over, her face a mask of ge

on't make this di

y took the envelope from the process server

turned to

it now. Y

ppeared into the elevator. T

doorway, clutching the papers th

thout a word. Isabelle followed, pausing jus

as the last thing Daphne

n she w