FAZER LOGINSilence.Then, in a voice that was very quiet and very controlled, "She's escalating.""Yes.""She knows something is closing in.""That's what I think too." I wrapped both hands around the mug. "Diana wants everything Marcus has. She wants to speak with him directly. She thinks if we can establish Natalie's involvement this whole thing transforms from a messy divorce into a fraud case."Adrian was quiet for a moment. "Let me make some calls.""Adrian…”“Not to interfere with Marcus or Diana. Just to supplement." His voice was measured, careful. "I told you I have resources. People who can trace financial transactions faster than a one man forensic operation. People who specialize in exactly this kind of digital fraud." He looked at me. "With your permission."I looked back at him. At the steadiness of him, the absolute lack of performance in his expression. Just a man sitting on a porch step on a Saturday morning offering to use everything he had to help someone he cared about."Okay
I called Diana from the porch of the house while Adrian made lunch inside.She answered on the first ring, which told me she'd been waiting."Ivy. Good, I'm glad you called quickly.""Your email said it was important." I sat on the wooden porch steps, looking out at the property, the long grass still damp from the morning. "What's happening with the settlement?""Ethan's lawyer contacted me at eight this morning. On a Saturday, which tells you how eager they are to move." Papers shuffled in the background. Diana apparently worked weekends without apology. "They're proposing a full settlement within thirty days. They want the house, the joint investment accounts, and they're offering you a single lump sum payment.""How much?""Fifty thousand dollars."I let out a short sharp laugh. "That's insulting.""It is. The house alone is worth nearly two million in the current market and the joint accounts hold approximately three hundred and forty thousand dollars. They're offering you fifty t
He thought about it for a moment, stepping over a root that crossed the path."I collect maps," he said.I looked at him. "Maps?""Old ones. Antique. The older the better. I have about sixty in the apartment, most of them framed, some just stored flat in drawers because I ran out of wall space." He glanced sideways. "There's something about the way people understood the world before they had complete information. The gaps and guesses and the places where mapmakers just wrote things like 'here there be monsters' because they genuinely didn't know.""That's not what I expected you to say.""What did you expect?""I don't know. Something more serious. Business related.""You said not resume stuff.""Fair point." I watched a bird move through the branches above us. "I like that. The maps thing." Something about it felt right for him, for the way he paid attention to things, the way he sat with uncertainty instead of rushing to fill it with false certainty."Your turn," he said."Something
The kitchen smelled like coffee and something sweet.Adrian was at the stove when I padded in barefoot, hair loose and probably embarrassing, wearing the gray sweater and the leggings I'd slept in because I hadn't wanted to take time to change when there was coffee involved.He heard me come in and looked n his shoulder."Morning," he said, like the word was something easy and familiar between us already."Morning." I went straight for the coffee maker, poured myself a mug, wrapped both hands around it. Took a sip and closed my eyes because it was exactly the right temperature and strength, and for one perfect moment my entire existence narrowed down to just that."I told you I'd bring my own coffee," I said."And yet here you are drinking mine.""I forgot.""You didn't forget."I opened my eyes. He was watching me with something quiet and amused in his expression, spatula in hand, completely at ease in this kitchen that wasn't even his in a way that made the whole scene feel disarmin
I chopped. He cooked. We stood side by side in a kitchen that smelled like garlic and herbs and something deeper and warmer underneath, and the ease of it was almost frightening. How naturally we moved around each other. How little space the silence between us needed to be filled.We ate at the big wooden table with the fire going in the next room and wine that he'd chosen without consulting me, which I was ready to object to until I tasted it."Don't say anything," he said, watching my face."I wasn't going to say anything.""You were going to make a comment about me ordering without asking.""I was going to say it's good," I said. "Which it is. Annoyingly."He smiled. "I'll ask next time."There it was again. Next time. Said with the same casual certainty as before. Like next times were already a given, already being planned for, already assumed into existence.After dinner we sat in front of the fire with our wine glasses and for a long time neither of us said much. The fire crackl
Friday afternoon couldn't come fast enough.By the time five o'clock arrived I had packed a small bag the night before, unpacked it twice because I didn't know what you brought for a weekend away with a man who wasn't quite your boyfriend but was definitely more than a friend, and finally repacked it with the decisive energy of someone who had bigger things to worry about than whether to bring the gray sweater or the navy one.I brought both.Adrian's car was waiting outside the Rhode building when I came down, same driver, same sleek black car that I was starting to recognize like an old acquaintance. He was already inside, jacket off, looking out the window at the Friday evening traffic with the particular stillness of someone who had learned to be patient with things they couldn't control.He looked up when I got in."You brought a big bag," he said."I didn't know what to pack.""Good thing the house has everything.""Then why did you tell me to pack?""Because telling you not to
Ivy’s POV I walked back to my pile of belongings and started going through boxes, looking for my phone charger. My hands were shaking so badly I could barely open them. Clothes I’d worn on our anniversary. Books he’d given me for birthdays. A coffee mug that said “Mrs. Carter” that I’d bought as
Ivy’s POV The sheets smelled like expensive cologne and regret. The hotel room was too bright, sunlight pouring through those massive windows like it had a personal vendetta against my hangover. My head was pounding, my mouth tasted like something had died in it, and my body ached in places t
Ivy’s POV The bar smelled like whiskey and smoke. I slid onto a stool near the back, away from the handful of people scattered around the room. A basketball game played on the TV above the bar, but nobody seemed to be watching it. Everyone here looked like they were running from something, yeah
Ivy’s POV I didn’t sleep. How could I? Every time I close my eyes, I see those pictures haunting me. And the fact that nobody was on my side…that made it worse. I stayed curled up on our bed, still wearing my birthday dress, my mascara had dried in crusty streaks down my cheeks. The house was so q







