Chapter 5

Three days after I stopped the transfer, Vale Crown called me during dinner.

I was sitting on the floor of my temporary apartment, surrounded by unopened boxes and the quiet hum of a refrigerator that did not know Adrian’s midnight schedule. Evening light had faded from the windows, leaving my reflection alone in the glass with a carton of untouched soup between my hands.

The flagship hotel’s banquet manager spoke before I could say hello. Behind him, china struck metal, voices overlapped, and someone demanded that the press leave the ballroom.

“Mrs. Vale, I’m sorry. Mr. Vale told me to…