The Final Score: When The Wife Walks Away

marriage to the Chicago Underbos

"childhood friend" Ariana

g in a gallery fire to

y grandmother's br

ly hit zero on the

y with a broken leg because Ari

able to run, I was st

doctors begged Blake-the head trauma surge

ref

d for Ariana, just in case her "

the dying patie

n, my body shut down to

ight-week-old heartbe

son to treat his m

oom and pulled out the

. Killed our child

wiped my fingerprints from

turned to Chicago as

kneeling in the rain at my feet, beggi

pte

save my marriage; I started ke

hand-a stark, ink-black blot against the pri

pped i

alculating gray of a Chicago

rboss of the C

order a hit wi

ng tables to save them, just as easily as

idn't look lethal.

this, C

he specific frequency that us

blouse, fighting the urge to cro

ts," I said, my voice unnervingl

lau

arp, dismis

ed? Dinners interrupted? Th

nees to keep them from shaking. "It is dat

book back on

marble, stopping

," he said, stepping

ood and expensive sc

make my k

smelled lik

hispered, his knuckles grazing my cheek-a possessive, not te

e didn'

s

tone was

business, nor the respectful bu

soft, mel

e

eanor shift

ished, replaced

, turning his back to

n his shoulders tense b

oice dropping an octave. "W

t, then spun around, alrea

ve to

nutes," I reminded him, my voice cool. "This is f

ze already distant, detached from me. "Someone

d up th

pped m

s," I murmured t

hand gripping the frame unt

die, Caroline.

risis," I finished writing,

lowed

a, but because I was the archit

y reputation

the armo

ness, weaving through the evening tr

itfield Gallery was a g

ern glass façade I had spent si

the night sky, cho

was already there, shouting orders a

tes out!" Mark yelled over the roa

didn't

park and jumped out befo

!" he s

ed sound-a sound he h

tant pointed to the entrance. "

arm. "Blake, no! The

h enough force to send the

't look

check if I

aight into

heat searing my skin e

have st

al plans were et

the load-bear

the collapse

afte

a physical blow, a s

eyes, blindin

coughing as the acrid

ouette throu

had

expensive cashmere coat wrapped around

perfectly unharmed, buryi

ed to t

saw

ed into an eternity, our eyes l

oked

down at the wo

e his

ving towar

roaned-a sickenin

uppor

raising my hand as i

dn't

out into the c

am gav

the force of a freight train, d

ing-exploded down my arm a

ching the empty doorway where m

agonizing inch, choking on ash an

I could h

shouting for pa

shed the small notebook from

warm, the ink s

twenty

the mi

e wife