TER
am
ost impossible to notice unless I stood perfectly still. I hated that I not
d myself I'd made. I walked slowly toward the floor-to-ceiling windows wh
desk with her shoulders squared, refusing to
ay sunlight caught the shorter strands of her hair. Alt
this time before she slipped away like yesterday. She looked thinner. It made me wonder. Where had she slept? Who had convinced
r. Blackwood?" My secretary's voice
asking if you'd like t
n the screen. A merger I'd spent six months negot
ir
ing is ca
schedule it
et from the back
erst
your mother
cket. "My mother?" "She a
ssa said when she saw the look on my face. Befo
ss. She walked in like she owned the place without waiting for permission, dressed in
ed aside. "I'm sorry sir.
s clicke
I leave the city for one week." She folded her designer handbag neatly ove
ned whe
marry someone suitable. Someone capabl
elief. "And somehow...you s
"Mother, I think I've had enough of your t
m glad I wasn't invited to
m the beginning. I told you marrying b
back." She
't enough." Her lips curled with
ayed where everyone be
till. My voice, when it came, was dan
e without flin
rd echoed thro
I stared at her.
wned. "
!" I roar
e intercom without taking my eyes
uldn't
he button.
rity officers entered the office. They st
lackwood from
nt. I looked direc
d forward respectfully. "Ma'am." She looked
rning in his grave right
et before walking toward the door with a
e looked over her shoul
hen I walked slowly toward the built-in bookshelf behind my desk. Hidden behind one shelf was a biometric lock. My thumb rested against the scanner. The lower compart
lder heavier than paper had any right to be. The first page was the official police
e was nothing else to hold on to. Until yesterday. Another photograph caught my attention, it was a close-up of the brake assembly. A tiny, clean incision. Al
ce that didn't suffocate me with guilt anymore was my st
hed across the screen "Ma
low. One minute, I have my eye on her, the n
arc
e became
you don't lose peop
trying to piece together
ent it to you." My laptop dinged with the noti
ir, she appears to be
ing photographs whil
everal photographs.
smiling at someone. It had been years since I'd s
was saying. For reasons I couldn't explain, I hated t
restaurant and find out every
e call and gr
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