g was thre

smooth under my thumb. Five years. Five years with Chloe Davis, and it was all

r, Susan, for a final dress fitting. I knew the boutique. I thought

. She wasn't with her mother. She was with Ethan Miller. Her "first love." The one who had reappeared six mon

from view. The back door was propped open for the

Ethan asked. His voice was

th his accounts. But don' t worry. After the wedding, everything he h

hroat. My hand holding t

that boring architect?" Ethan' s voice was

t I loved, a sound I' d worked hard to

someone to love him, he can' t see anything. He' s a tool, Ethan. A walking ATM. I just have to smile, c

from my fingers, scatter

ank, then flood

ssful but lonely before I met her. She was a waitress, full of sad stories about h

n Ethan came back into the picture, claiming he was in debt to dangerous people, I was the one who wrote the checks. Chloe woul

er. I believ

earing the wedding dress I paid for. It was a custom design

ook, Liam?"

I had told her, my v

nell," she' d whispered, kissing

single mome

to my car and just drove, with no destination in mind. My hand

king the city. The sun was setting, painting the sky in shad

onths ago and forgotten about them. My hands trembled as I lit one. The smoke filled my lungs, acrid and foreign. It bur

ent. I wasn't just crying for the betray

her eyes wide and full of panic. She had these two perfect dimples when she smiled nervously. I was instant

sful man, a lonely man, and she saw her meal ticket. Her entire family was in on it. Susan, her mother, always pr

linched, dropping it on the car floor. A small, black burn mark appea

thick and suffocating. The sky turned from purple

house I designed, the house I thought would be our fa

. She jumped up when I walked in,

as so worried! Whe

e, her arms outst

a ste

aw a flicker of annoyance in her eye

she asked, her vo

' t speak. The sound of her laugh

ic. A tool.

door behind me, leaning against it, my body finally giving in to the tremors I' d b