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, already

d 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