Page 223 of Their Arrangement

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I smiled.

Didn’tanswer.

Outside, the wind caught the hem of my coat. The sky had started to grey. Not dark yet. But close.

The kind of light that makes it hard to know what time it is. The kind of light that tells you it’s already too late. I walked to the corner. Paused at the red light. Waited. When it changed, I crossed. Didn’t look back. Not once.

Because I knew?—

If I looked over my shoulder and saw him standing there?

I wouldn’t be able to keep walking.

36

WOLFE

I didn’t sleep.Didn’t even pretend to try. I sat in the dark, fully clothed, the light from the surveillance feed turning the walls a cold blue-gray.

The espresso machine hissed in the kitchen. I made coffee just to pour it down the sink. The steam rising from the mug didn’t carry warmth—only noise. Something to fill the silence that felt like it might snap my ribs in half.

The feed from her building glowed on my laptop.

Still.

Unmoving.

Sunday footage looped. She never came back. Not to her place. Not to mine. Not to me. I rewound the hallway camera again. Watched the timecode jump. Watched her silhouette blur past the lens—hoodie on, face low.

She moved like smoke. Like someone who didn’t want to be seen. She turned the corner like someone who knew what not to be caught by. I told myself I wasn’t sure yet. That maybe she just needed air.

But I knew.

I’d known the second my eyes opened and the space beside me was still empty. I didn’t know where she’d gone. But I knew what it meant. By the time I stepped into the building, I’d already felt it. The loss. I just hadn’t seen it yet.

The Lawlor floor was too quiet. Monday mornings usually carried noise—early staff chatter, Loyal’s espresso machine grinding, Barron’s voice in the hallway.

But today?

Nothing.

Just the echo of my shoes on polished floors and a tension behind my ribs I couldn’t shake.

I got in early. Didn’t greet anyone. Didn’t take the elevator with anyone. Didn’t see her. I walked straight to my office. Unlocked the door. Stopped. The desk looked the same. Exactly the same. Except…

The drawer.

It was open.

Not wide. Just enough.

Just inviting enough. Like a whisper I didn’t want to hear. I stepped forward. Didn’t take my coat off. Didn’t breathe until I reached it.

Inside—

The chain.

Black silk.

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