TER

am

ost impossible to notice unless I stood perfectly still. I hated that I not

d myself I'd made. I walked slowly toward the floor-to-ceiling windows wh

desk with her shoulders squared, refusing to

ay sunlight caught the shorter strands of her hair. Alt

this time before she slipped away like yesterday. She looked thinner. It made me wonder. Where had she slept? Who had convinced

r. Blackwood?" My secretary's voice

asking if you'd like t

n the screen. A merger I'd spent six months negot

ir

ing is ca

schedule it

et from the back

erst

your mother

cket. "My mother?" "She a

ssa said when she saw the look on my face. Befo

ss. She walked in like she owned the place without waiting for permission, dressed in

ed aside. "I'm sorry sir.

s clicke

I leave the city for one week." She folded her designer handbag neatly ove

ned whe

marry someone suitable. Someone capabl

elief. "And somehow...you s

"Mother, I think I've had enough of your t

m glad I wasn't invited to

m the beginning. I told you marrying b

back." She

't enough." Her lips curled with

ayed where everyone be

till. My voice, when it came, was dan

e without flin

rd echoed thro

I stared at her.

wned. "

!" I roar

e intercom without taking my eyes

uldn't

he button.

rity officers entered the office. They st

lackwood from

nt. I looked direc

d forward respectfully. "Ma'am." She looked

rning in his grave right

et before walking toward the door with a

e looked over her shoul

hen I walked slowly toward the built-in bookshelf behind my desk. Hidden behind one shelf was a biometric lock. My thumb rested against the scanner. The lower compart

lder heavier than paper had any right to be. The first page was the official police

e was nothing else to hold on to. Until yesterday. Another photograph caught my attention, it was a close-up of the brake assembly. A tiny, clean incision. Al

ce that didn't suffocate me with guilt anymore was my st

hed across the screen "Ma

low. One minute, I have my eye on her, the n

arc

e became

you don't lose peop

trying to piece together

ent it to you." My laptop dinged with the noti

ir, she appears to be

ing photographs whil

everal photographs.

smiling at someone. It had been years since I'd s

was saying. For reasons I couldn't explain, I hated t

restaurant and find out every

e call and gr