na'

y as I stepped into Bluebird Café, a

g had

f roasted coffee and vanilla-it all wrapped around me l

tead, I chose a seat near the counter, tucked behind a tall ficus where I could watch the door without

place? After everything

end here. Whe

s folded in my lap, checking my phone e

still hummed while working, just like before. The same unhurried

tlessly charming. His hand reaching for mine, his fing

anyone the way I

had burned. How my heart

e'd said smoothly. "An apartment too. You'll never h

his eyes locked on mine with a

ed me now. How stupi

d on the condensation sliding down my glass

passed.

inced he'd stood me up, a

. Like he wasn't twenty minutes late. Li

rks on his neck. Fresh. Obv

Whatever this meeting was about, I wouldn't l

. Leaning back, draping an arm along the booth's curved back, radiating that

est. "What's this about, Mark? What do you want? I'm out of your life. Why a

head. "I wanted you to see what happens when you try to survive without

lm. "And? What do you expect? That I'll fal

pproved, every apartment I arranged, every luxury you enjoyed. And what did I get in return? Nothing. You didn

stment?" I snapped, my voice trembling with fury. "I

ard. "You do owe me, Elena. But we can settle it. One last night with me-give me

inside me

d, arcing through the air, splashing across his face in a golden explosion. It dr

ink money and power make you untouchable? I trusted you! I loved you! And this-" my hand shook as I

ent absolu

ere, frozen, orange juice dripping from h

sputtering, his face purple with

tay to hea

pounding, leaving Mark behind-soaked, humiliated, and utter

*

rd Café taught me a brutal truth: Mark's words, hi

ly. I could feel his invisible hand pressing down on every opportunity, squeezing until nothing remained. My grandmother'

t Lounge-the highest-paying n

catwoman" ensemble that covered almost nothing. I tugged at the fabri

nting in her eyes. "Don't psych yourself out. Just smile

es, low music, the buzz of too many people in too small a space. I wove between tables,

e-tipsy office workers, coll

cape, they'd cornered me near the service station. One of them laughed,

ed the words out. "Pl

ruel. One hand found my waist, pulling me close

taunted, pressing t

ghtened around me, blocking every

fell ov

hands off

n harassing me froze mid-motio

ating pure, lethal authority. The very air see

burned through me as my h