apartment. It was a number I didn' t recognize, b
" a man' s voice aske
this is
ller from the state police.
ighway median. My parents. Gone. Just like that. The family business, alreadyd had c
ic settled over me. I needed help. The business h
y uncle, my fathe
your loss, truly. But you know your father and I... we di
ne wen
ege, Jessica, whose father was a succes
a sympathy that felt thin. "I' d love to help, but Dad' s got all
s. Family members offered empty condolences but no real support. I was utterly alon
notices and condolence cards that felt like insults. De
Ethan Mille
ful business family. He walked in, took one look at
he said, his voice a
d. He negotiated with the creditors, using his family' s name to buy us
his grandfather, Mr.
, loud enough for me to hear from the other room. "The daughter of a bank
stood hi
sted. "We' re getting married,
my savior, my rock, the only light in my suffocating darkne
fect husband. He encouraged my dreams o
ovation, Liv," he would say, kissing
f my energy, into new ventures. A software solution for logisti
I tried. Ninety-ni
e last minute. A competitor would launch a nearly identical product just wee
s there to pick
. "These things happen. The tech w
icially folded last week. I felt like a complete failure, a burden o
downtown office to surprise him. I wanted to see his face, to remind
s from inside. The door was slightly ajar
ed," Chad said, a cynical laugh in his voice
hand clutchi
t had comforted me for five y
ng block for Sarah' s success. That last algorithm Olivia wrote? It' s the core of
rt. The woman he' d always called his "best friend."
Olivia' s data? Ag
the world. "Sarah needed it. Olivia is... a great incubator for
oss the cold marble floor. The sound was surpr
that?" C
to hear more. I
he could steal for another woman. Our marriage wasn' t a rescue, it was a transaction. He didn' t marry me to save me, he m
luck. They were deliberate acts of sa
that stole my breath. But underneath it, som
y noise fading into a dull roar. He thought I was weak.
done with the business world. I was done with the endless
e. I would burn their