LOGINMarianne looks at him. Then she looks at me.I look at Jude.He is not looking at me anymore. He is looking at Marianne, waiting for her to grant him his request. “A therapist...on a couples getaway?” Her face seems to blanch, just thinking about it.“My therapist.” He says. “Ongoing sessions cannot be interrupted. That is a medical consideration.”I almost scoff at the nonsense he’s making up. Marianne seems to be aware, because she begins to protest. “Jude, that is not a medical...”“It is non-negotiable.” He says with finality. Marianne looks at him for a long moment. Then she looks at me again with a frown. Like it’s my fault Jude is putting down this absurd term. I keep my face completely neutral.“Very well.” She says, conceding. “I will have the arrangements updated and sent to you.” She straightens her already straight posture. “You leave Friday morning, whenI look at Jude.“Ongoing sessions being interrupted do not have any medical implications.” I say.“It served its p
Jude’s eyes drop to my hand.He’s staring at the red perfume bottle. “What’s in your hand?” He asks.My fingers close around it immediately, instinct taking over before thought can catch up. “Perfume.” I say without hesitation.I search for a way to change the topic, my eyes looking around the room frantically. “I thought you’d go back to the hospital. You still need some rest.”He doesn’t say anything immediately, but just steps further into the room. He observes my room, eyes causally moving across the space. I hold the bottle even tighter. He moves further into the room and takes a seat on the chair near the window. He does not relax into it. He sits on the edge, his posture straight, his attention still on me.“Let’s have a session.” He says. The word catches me off“Now?” I ask.“You are here. I am here. The room is quiet. There is no better time.”I nod. Taking the opportunity to walk to the small dresser and set the perfume inside it, face away from him, like it is nothin
The question sits in the warm greenhouse air between us.Marianne D’Angelo looks at me patiently expecting me to give an analysis on why Brittany and Jude don’t have a child yet. I take a breath.“Mrs. D’Angelo. I cannot speak to the specifics of Mr. Martinez’s sessions. You understand that.”“I am not asking about the sessions.” She says. “I am asking for your professional opinion. As someone who has spent considerable time observing both of them.”“A child, is not something that can be scheduled into a relationship that is still finding its footing. Pressure in that direction tends to create the opposite of the desired result.” I pass each point across slowly. She is quiet, frowning down at her plants.“The healthiest thing is to allow them to build what they have between themselves first. When two people genuinely find each other, when they find something worth protecting, the rest tends to follow. You cannot force the order of those things without damaging all of them.”I stop t
“I am saying, that my wife is trying to kill me.”When Jude says this, I feel my heart rate pick up. Rationally, I know that Jude isn’t accusing me or connecting his theory to me. But I still break out into a cold sweat.“Why would you think so?” I try to keep the nervousness out of my voice. “Why would your own wife kill you?”I find myself genuinely wanting to know the answer to my second question. Why did Brittany hire me to kill Jude? Why did she want the man she married, dead?“Let’s go.” Jude evades all my questions, walking out of the lobby.I trail behind him, wondering why this job was escalating to such dangerous levels.********When we arrive back ag the manor, Jude assigns two guards to stay by my side. While he goes out, I’m left alone in the house.I pull out my phone and jump into research. Lotus.I type it into the search bar and get what I expect. The flower. Symbolism in Buddhism. A skincare brand. A car company from the seventies that serious men in midlife cris
I do not understand why I am here in the hospital. If Brittany has been shot, then this is a family matter. A private one. Something that should not involve me. And yet, when Jude said we were leaving for the hospital, he did not give me a choice. He simply looked at me and told me to follow.So I did.We are led straight through the corridors, past waiting patients, until we reach a private wing that feels nothing like the rest of the hospital.We stop outside a door, and one of the guards pushes it open without knocking.Jude walks in first and I follow.Brittany is sitting up in the hospital bed.That is the first thing I notice.Not lying down. Not unconscious. Sitting up, with her back supported by pillows, her posture still as straight and composed as if she were in her own living room instead of a hospital room.Her shoulder is bandaged.The white fabric is wrapped tightly, and there is a faint trace of red bleeding through the edges. If Jude didn’t tell me she was shot in th
"Let her out." Jude demands.Roman stares at him. "Boss...""Now, Roman." He gives him no room for an explanation. Roman looks at him for one more second, then reaches for the keys at his belt and unlocks the cell door eyes moving between Jude and me with confusion. "You should be at the hospital." He says to Jude. "The doctor said the wound needed—""I am aware of what the doctor said." Jude's voice is clipped."Then why are you here boss?" Roman asks, eyebrows scrunched together."Because of incompetence." Jude says, looking at Roman directly. "Because I wdirI received reports my men had thrown my therapist into a cell based on an assumption.""It was not an assumption." Roman explains. "The tracker—""Was not hers." Jude says.Roman goes silent."We found the source." Jude says. "While you were down here playing jailer, my team ran the tracker signal. The device was placed on her phone from outside. Remote access. Whoever planted it had her number and the software to do it witho







