ana

ick on the marble countertop. "Carolina is a lovely woman, but she has no critical skills. This is a genet

, my voice cracking. "That 'non-essential' woma

tions don't factor into the equation now. The calculus is brutal, but it's simple. Katia's

er. "The 'in sickness and in health, for richer, for poor

ut those vows were made for a world that no longer ex

elt the last vestiges of love for him freeze and shatter into a million tiny shards. The heat of the dying world

me again. "Just sign it. It'

ON OF MARRIAGE. Weeks v. Wilkerson. It wasn't a fic

ached for it. "You can't

er, Adi. It doesn't mean

r," I said, my voice hollow. "It means you're taking

ve set up a fund for you. You'll be more comfort

oney to watch the world burn

e softening into a placating tone I now recognized as pure manipulation. "Once we're t

sted like ash in my mouth. It was a lie. All of it. A lie h

Was it when I turned down the CTO position at that biotech firm because he said it would require too much travel? Or was it the day he first brought Katia home for dinner, her

know I possessed. "That's comforting. I'm sure that and the 'fund' wil

desk. My hand was perfectly steady now. I uncapped it and sign

pen felt like a se

relieved smile starting to form

a fight," I said, my v

ell, I... I know this

gaze level with his. "It's a tran

'll find a way..." he sta

ere toxic. I slid the signed do

't w

It's insulting." I turned and walked away from him, t

k. But in a few weeks, when you're safe and comfortable

here my heart used to be. He stayed on his side of the room, and I stayed on mine. The spac

n my cheek. I wiped it away before he could

of our building's backup generator was the only thing standing between us and the suffocating heat. Every creak of

zzing sound came from the l

. He was trying to be quiet, trying not to wake me. As if I

ice a low murmur. A few minutes l

od ran

t to the bedroom door, cracki

ges. Her face was smudged with dirt, her clot

arms. "The power went out in my building. The security systems

safe now," he mur

" she asked, her voice small and pleading. "Ju

no. To tell her this was inappropriate. To have one shred of res

ir. "You can stay in the guest room. Just

he room my mother

s flicking toward our bedroom door.

ack in the door. There was no fear in

?" Katia asked, her voice

sn't matter if she minds," he said, his voice low and firm. "Your safety and your foc

honest thing h

ad already replaced me in his life. I was jus

e future he was talking about, the one he was so determi

nd, vibrated silently. I looked down a

nitiative - Offi

Accommodations for You +1 (Carolina Pearson) are confir

e of air that was part shock, part re

o cling to it wit