I Built Your Empire, Now It Burns

Vitie

k existing in

ging balance of my bank accounts. I simply sat in the dim ligh

a spectre, bringing sus

g anyone who would listen that I was "unwell," resting at a private facility to m

udgment, I logged into a

thing to assault my eyes

ber

f red wine, her bare legs draped casually over the lap of a man whose face was cropped o

rclass in cruelty: Home

ike a traitor, was Brutus. Caleb's massive Cane Corso

se. With my husba

. It struck the plaster with a sic

her stack of files, h

look at

I said. My voice was low, v

d. "She wants a reaction.

crystallizing in my che

ickly to block my path. "Yo

. "It was in the jewelry box on the vanity. The amethyst beads. The one

Azura said, though her

from the rack. "I am not going to fight

startled to see me, his eyes darting nervously, but

se. My heart hammered a frantic rhythm aga

tment wa

he union representatives today. He

smelled wrong. It smelled like h

the master bedroom.

robe. The emerald green one Caleb had bought me for our honeymoon in Como. She was

the glass. She did n

n you would sho

off," I c

nst the vanity. "It hangs better on me, don't

he vanity. The je

s it?" I

cence, batting her la

patience fraying. "The am

old thing?

d it up for a moment, then let her fingers open. Purple beads and a snapped silv

se sympathy. "I was trying it on, and it just

t was the last tether to my sani

t think.

the roots. I yanked her head back. She screamed

mother's mem

cracked against the mirror. A crystal perfume bottle toppled a

nails digging furrows into my sk

to the bed. She scrambled back against the headboar

ice shaking with a terrifying rage.

at the crimson smear on her fingers

g. He tells me how you just lie there like a corpse.

nd. The weight of it felt good in my hand. I w

eaming with malice. "Show him you