BENEATH THE BILLIONAIRE SILENCE

ass-they just become

-

ut her was the loudest

an wa

The apartment where we used to meet was stripped of her sc

e mug on the kitchen counter.

monument to everyt

-

ve my apartm

here to be, but becau

investigation." The words sounded clinical, but

n from the people I thought were my friends. Mar

eady bein

-

lding's doorman-Carl

n in silence. Today I was in joggers

ood,"

and went back to pretending

low eyes. Slack shoulders. The face of a man who had ta

-

g going through my

. Photos we'd sent. P

sage st

nt it hours later, probably lying beside Daniel, wh

emembered what being se

deeper than any

wanted to f

her

k your permission t

-

walked into t

nvi

d startled

to talk,

raised an eyebrow. "This

about proced

ant, then gestured toward

nd folders between us like evidence in

now," I said, "wh

hands. "We're st

ve it," I said

he optics a

ryone already knows. Even

l working he

d. "She's on a

el force

equest

at

vanished

more than bein

en say goodbye

ed at me-no

se they don't care... but becau

-

leep much

vacuum-workless, wor

ry. Daniel was smart. Discreet. He didn

ore efficient punis

u alive, and no one

-

, a lette

n. No retu

with tremb

lij

ithout a word. That I left you to face it all alone. A

t life. Not when everything around me felt like gl

ven once. He moved into the guest house

tell you that what we had was real. Whatever the worl

u, Elijah.

ld. To breathe. To find w

't hate me

reread it three times, trying to

ill lo

asn't com

t

not

-

er, Daniel

sage wa

talk. My office.

ived

desk didn't look up. I was a ghost

able. Same abstract painting behind him. S

ned for

di

me for a

built my life on two thin

d not

I don't threate

ned fo

't prepared

lan it," I

"That's the worst

sor

ded. "

pa

ove her?"

hit harder th

I said.

s jaw c

y did sh

ause she didn't know how t

n, ran a hand

said. "I just didn't

aid. "We both

sig

oy you, Elijah. That wo

sed m

you to liv

sto

I won't ruin your name. You'll fin

you w

head. "No. I'

ood

you,"

t tha

ho had both loved the same woman

I l

-

got home, it

d of rain-the kind that washes nothing c

long time, watching the wa

t time in weeks,

or th

for the

part of my soul that would always wonder what we

-

th pa

n t

Nothing steady. Enough t

her firms, old classmates. They asked questions

rd from Lil

d letter

odbye, disguised

-

he bridge where she o

at the s

t the wa

to j

nd. To remember tha

s don't get

o fragile to su

esn't make

-

bridge, I whispe

ou found

somewhere