ra

cool and even as I held the small black bo

face. He thought it was a reconciliation. A new watch,

erfect, attentive husband, shadowing my every move, bringing me gifts, whispering promi

hone became a weapon in her hands. A barrage o

way I laugh. He says y

e bought me last we

nfirmed this wasn't some n

for four years. While you were buildi

w ground into dust. Four years of lies. Four year

was them, in a hotel suite I recognized, tangled in the she

r?" she asked Brenda

voice was clear-and worse, bore

. They were just... data. Info

ial woman," Kiya pushed,

he said dismissively. "But I ca

ice dropped, becoming s

catching in my throat. Brendan's expression, when he fin

not s

, holding two bowls of my favorite ice cream. He

e glanced at the screen just long enough to regist

sk. He didn

d pushed a bowl of

o like that again, I thought, a str

as made. The p

scheduled in two days. He thought it was a sec