Page 222 of Their Arrangement
To the girl I used to be when her laughter made me feel like I belonged somewhere.
I turned. Walked out. Didn’t hesitate. Didn’t stop. Not until I passed Wolfe’s office. The light was off. But I knew what waited inside.
His desk.
His chair.
The velvet box still open where I left it.
I stepped inside. Closed the door behind me. It felt wrong to be here. Like I was inside the skin of a man I’d betrayed.
But I didn’t flinch.
I walked to the desk.
Opened the drawer.
Slid the chain inside.
Didn’t fold it.
Didn’t bury it.
Just let it settle—loose and raw—like a wound.
I placed the lid on the box. Didn’t close it. Because closure felt like too much to ask for. The hallway was too quiet. Even for a Sunday.
I walked with the book pressed flat inside my tote bag. Wrapped in a sweatshirt. Not hidden—just… muffled. Like guilt could be padded with cotton and memory. Every step felt heavier. Not because the book weighed anything. But because I did.
I passed the wall of windows overlooking the city.
Stopped.
Just for a second.
I could see Wolfe’s building from here.
Knew exactly which windows were his. Wondered if he was there. Wondered if he was watching. Wondered if even knew I was gone.I pressed my palm to the glass. Cold. Clear.
Unforgiving.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered again.
But it didn’t sound real anymore. I made it to the elevator. Paused when the doors opened. It reflected my face back at me—too pale. Eyes too wide. Too much space where the chain used to sit.
I stepped inside. The doors closed. And that was it. I stared at my reflection in the polished steel. I didn’t look like a traitor. I looked like a secretary in an expensive hoodie with too much guilt in her eyes. And that scared me most. Because I could pass. I could walk out of this building and no one would know what I’d done.
The elevator buzzed as it descended. Somewhere on floor twenty-three, it jolted. Just a flicker. A sound. But my whole body locked up like he was behind me again.
I turned.
Of course no one was there.
But the damage was done.
By the time the elevator hit the lobby, I wasn’t breathing right anymore. But I still walked. I didn’t cry. Didn’t shake. I just stood there. Counting the floors like they meant something. Like I wasn’t walking out with a piece of Wolfe’s soul in my bag. At the ground floor, the security guard waved.
“See you tomorrow,” he said.
