my call to Elean

I've decided to leave Ethan. I

hen Eleanor's voice,

t not entirely unwelcome. You understand your

as eager for me to be gone. She always thought my working

Mrs. Hayes," I said, my voice s

at would be ideal. Perhaps we can come to an arrange

e I was an employee being dismi

rile office. A document was placed before me. A formal severance agreement. Five hundr

ce encounters. Ethan is not to know where you are. He is to believe you simply... left. For his

he money would be wired once I provided proof of my departure from Ne

om New York's suffocating social scene, a place kn

ck me or exert influence. It was distant enough. It felt like a

picture of her hand, a massive diamond ring on her finger, intertwin

ated that morning. She made sure her "close friends" list, the one my burner a

ng over me. The pain was still there, a dull

sent a

ven't seen you aro

He knew e

yped back.

I wouldn't give them the sa

ight to Austin for the end of the week. I started the pr

part-time job at a local library, a

ol of our supposed future, now felt like a mus

s we'd collected. Each item I packed into a donation box was a small act of symbol

one evening. He noticed some empty s

casual, his arm looping ar

rthday is next week. I'm planning somethin

thday party while married to another woman, a woman he w

faint smile pla

yes Corporation sponsored event. Ethan insisted I g

nd on my arm. Then Vicky made her entrance, a dramatic sweep in a g

introducing me to a few business associates. It was a strange performance, almost li

hing that wasn't quite hope, bu

n near the champagne bar. Vicky, surrounded

e! I think I

He knelt, gently examining her ankle, his touch tender. He was al

r face a mask of pain, but her eyes, when they flicked