The Price of Perfection

eft, I found my mo

y voice dangerously calm. "Is this

they're just... they

w. "I loved him. And he, and his family,

t I though

gation to you, to this family, is over. I gave ten yea

, a glass of whiskey in his ha

ost tender. "We've had good times, haven't we

curated moments where I was allowed

We can make things more... formal. A

ing my resolve as a

on't want your name, or your money, or your conditio

ignity, no

're rejecting my genero

I've been more than pa

ollow sound. "You thin

skey glass down on

n't think for a second you'll get a dime out of me

the cr

lly swiping through photos. He stopped on one of a young, dazzlingly b

tually looks like Madeleine did in her youth. Be

uelty, the way he dismissed me, m

n realized I was still clinging to – that maybe, som

of nausea, a p

ould break me, ma

lidified m