woke with a famil

AM alarm. 6:15 AM espresso,

d newspaper, The Wall Street J

the dining t

s probably flustered, prep

at the cloc

about Sophia's dietary preferences, whi

ent penthouse. Her bedroo

hed it

de. Too perfectly. As if

ker of

scent, a faint, almost non-existent f

fro

e was meticulously complia

his phone, dia

t to vo

ll me immediately." His t

again.

ghtened in his chest. Not anger,

is assistan

ling at one of her ludi

is clear today. It's... the fi

ice was caref

ped. "She was given new instructions ye

on the o

pson? Freeze her supplementary credit ca

pa

terling's supplementary card... it's never been a

nder

he first week. A platinum card with a

. He'd told her he disliked overt makeup, strong perfumes. The spark had dimmed. He'd told her a

e all the others. Eager

t purchases. No shopping

year was substantial,

ened further, morphing into

n Thompson w

dden, desperate urgency propelling h

st neat, em

ot Emily. She was... depen

ace of her vanity table. A single, f

eath c

tched

ERMINATION

. Signatures. Dated five years ago, at

agreed dissolution upon comp

never considered it truly bind

spered. Then

, then again, the pieces flutt

, Emily! I decid

llowed by a chilling wave o

do this. She

in, his fingers fumbling

cem

. It hit the wall with a sickening

house pressed in on him

was