He Followed: Building Our Scarred Life

nzo

nti-Valenti merger was sealed. We'd crushed two rival factions without firing a shot. A m

us. Unto

t me. "Home,

ated, familiar presence of my wife. Alessia would be in her studio, the air smelling of linseed oil and quiet concentration. She'd be angry about missing

. The air was still, sterile. No faint classical mus

out, my voice echoin

th

thread of unease beg

hed. Our bedroom-the bed perfectly made. But her scent, the subtle f

hem. On my b

nd next to it, the

od ran

tatue. It was whole. Impossibly, perfectly whole. I turned it over. On the base, etched in her meticulo

ss took her, throwing this very statue against the hearth. "Nothing in this hous

tored it. In se

read. I set the statue down and saw

ened

rald gown, smiling, but her eyes were distant, sad. She stood alone. I rem

Capri. Alone. I'd sent her on that "vacat

seat beside her. The final photo: her gallery opening night, captured by some attendee. She stood before her restore

er handwriting

of my neglect. A si

l quiet anger. This

, the word hollow

and strode to her studio

pt

l. Only a faint, ghostly scent of turpentine remained, and on the windowsill,

ne out, dialed her number. It rang once, then a cold, automat

again. A

pe sealed with the crest of the Cook County courthouse

a smug look on her face. "Trouble in paradise, Lo

hed the envelope, my f

to parse the words. "Decree of Dissolution

Legally

e. My own sharp, black scrawl. The d

he insurance." The thick docum

d my own di

oice, a nuisance, a distracti

it as a stiletto, sliding it between my ribs with

of pure fury and agony. It wasn't the controlled an

t Chiara, my voice a l

don't be

of Scotch off the bar. It exploded against the wall,

r eyes for the first time, and sc

ruins of my silent, empty kingdom. I ha

I had lost the only thing that had ever been truly, q

mpled at the slightest pressure. I closed my fist around it, feeling the dull e