nd gray, filtering into the k

as pouring herself a black coffee. Her scrubs were packed in her hospital bag, re

he private elevator, followed by t

g the coffee mug

walk

sh the powerful aura that clung to him like a second skin. He str

she we

drank, responding to his silence with her own. An invisibl

footsteps were impatient, hurried.

of him shuffling through papers. She had a complex eight-hour c

the study sto

He held a thick manila envelope. The embossed logo

pened it, b

nvelope to her, his expre

his suppos

and controlled, mo

he sound of ceramic against the ma

ng our divorce, Alden. The co

is mouth, as though he had already decided what this was really about. He walked

ne carried weary impatience rather than anger. "If you're t

he was looking for

xpression remained a placid, frozen surface.

ly why I've ret

all communication regarding our... arrangement will be h

oward the d

g his own language, the rules of business, to

st time, he seemed to realize she might actually mean it. He opened his mouth to say something, bu

d, he sai

blue folder and str

you'll regret," he said

eafening bang. The force of it

ne in the vast, s

ow breath. Her fingernails had dug so deeply into her pa

the envelope he had discarded, and p