a Van

s "He likes my taste" felt like a jag

n differently than most. I didn't just read the words; I analyzed the syntax, the tone,

screen, then tapped the image attac

y expanded, fillin

d to guess where it was. I had sat in that exact seat hundr

ants. I knew the texture of that fabric. I had picked it up from the dry c

d. Her skin was smooth, young, and her nails were painted with

ke someone had poured gasoline into my chest and struck a m

, but I couldn't stop. My gaze landed on the sliver of meta

tion watch. Right on the edge of the s

ustin had accidentally scraped that watch against the garage wall w

the pressure. To buy him that watch for our anniversary, to make him feel like he had made it, I had logged back onto the dark web. I spent thirty sleepless nights taking hi

he watch on his wrist mocked me. It was a vic

d, sharp *crack* of the glass hitting the stone echoed in the

ed over. I clamped my hands over my mouth and let out a harsh, dry heave,

food drifted into the air, slic

greyish-black smoke was billowing ou

g the duxelles, wrapping the prosciutto, scoring the pastry

't reach for the silicone oven mitts sitting right on the counter. I just reac

ering pain shot up my arm. I violently yanked my hand back. The physical shock shatter

twisted defense mechanism I had built as a child, locking myself in the freezing basement t

or open. A massive cloud of toxic black smoke rushed out, hittin

oasting pan with the towel, and hauled it ou

as gone. In its place was a charred, blackened lump

d ripped from my throat. It wasn't a cry. It was a c

ubbed his floors and wrote his code in the shadows. And just like this

ist. Dustin had bought it for me. He said he loved seei

ng the fabric. I balled the apron up in my fists and

n't care that the heat was seeping through the towel. I marc

a fraction of a second. I tipped the pan and dumped the entire blacke

plastic bin with a dull, sickening thud. It sounded

way the smoke and the smell. The kitchen pl

the freezing wall and slowly slid down until I hit the floor. I pul

ars, fed to