gh the phone, full of warmth and concern. "Your room is always r

all sound, unabl

fting to one of fierce protection. "You just get yourself on

m hugs and the smell of lavender that always

llowing week, after the divorce papers were signed. A wave of peace

home late

to his clothes. It was Ashley' s perfume. I had smelled it in his car, on his jackets, fo

didn' t ask where I' d been or how I was feeling after being trapped in the elevator. His worl

eft on the nightstand, buzzed to life. T

on' t be too hard on Sarah, okay? She' s probably just feel

positioning herself as the understanding, gentle partner while actively sabot

I felt nothing. It was like watching a drama unfold from a great dist

weling his hair. He glanced at me,

o sit there staring al

inking," I sai

How you overre

y mind drift back to the suffocating darkness o

h. I remembered pounding on the door, my knuckles raw, my shouts echoing in the tiny space. I r

I said, my voice low. "I told you I was ha

had a 102-degree fever. What was I supposed to do, leave her passed out o

we both knew it was a lie. Ashley' s 'sicknes

ing my savings to a new account, and securing a new job online-a simple barista position in a quiet

er arrived, I placed it on the dinin

face, which had been a mask of arrogant indifference f

this? You' re actually

on the table, the sound c

I sai

r you? I gave you this beautiful apartment, this comfortable l

e disagreement, David.

, a harsh,

," he demanded, changing the subject. "The CEO will be ther

as still trying to control me, to force me

aid. One last

, not because he was losing me, but because he was losing control. In his mind, I was still the orphaned girl

o find out how