Chapter 2 2

Alexa hung her beige coat in the closet, taking care to align the hanger perfectly with the others. It was a small act of control in a world that felt increasingly chaotic. She rolled up the sleeves of her blouse, washing her hands at the kitchen sink with the same vigorous scrubbing motion she used before surgery.

The kitchen was a masterpiece of German engineering and Italian design, all stainless steel and dark marble. She opened the double-door Sub-Zero refrigerator. It was stocked to capacity. Rows of organic vegetables, imported cheeses, and vacuum-sealed proteins lined the shelves. It was a display of abundance for a house that felt starving.

She pulled out a slab of Wagyu beef. The marbling was exquisite, white veins of fat cutting through the deep red meat.

Martha drifted back into the room, hovering near the pantry like a bad omen. "Mr. Montgomery dislikes the smell of searing meat in the house, Ms. Emerson. It clings to the drapery."

Alexa didn't look up. She placed the beef on the cutting board. "Mr. Montgomery isn't here, is he, Martha?"

She sliced into the meat. The knife was razor-sharp, parting the fibers with a wet, satisfying sound. She focused on the task, blocking out the housekeeper's disapproval. Years ago, back when they were both at Yale, before the death of her parents, before the trust fund clauses, Fletcher had once eaten a beef stew she made in a slow cooker in her dorm room. He had told her it tasted like home.

That memory felt like it belonged to a different lifetime.

She seared the steak, the hiss of the meat hitting the hot pan filling the silence. She plated it with a simple arugula salad and sat at the dining table. The table was mahogany, long enough to seat twenty people. She sat at one end, the other end stretching away into the dim light of the living room.

She lit a single taper candle. The flame flickered, casting long, dancing shadows against the walls.

Alexa cut a piece of the meat. It was perfectly medium-rare. She chewed slowly, but she couldn't taste it. Her phone sat next to her plate, black and silent.

Then, it buzzed.

It wasn't a call. It was a notification from Instagram. Judy Black.

Alexa hesitated. Judy was an old friend, but she was also a socialite who thrived on the currency of gossip. Alexa unlocked the phone and opened the message.

It was a screenshot of an Instagram Story.

The location tag read: The Pierre, a Taj Hotel.

The photo was taken in low light, grainy and filtered with a vintage sepia tone. In the foreground, people were holding crystal flutes of champagne. But it was the background that made Alexa's stomach lurch violently.

Sitting on a velvet banquette, visible in the gap between two standing guests, was a man in a dark suit. His profile was blurry, but Alexa knew the sharp line of that jaw, the way his hair curled slightly at the nape of his neck.

It was Fletcher.

He wasn't alone. A woman was leaning into him, her body angled aggressively toward his. She was wearing a dress that was little more than shimmering straps. Her hand rested casually, possessively, on his shoulder.

Alexa zoomed in. The pixelation made it hard to be sure, but the woman looked like that new model from the Vogue cover last month. She was laughing, her head thrown back, her chest pressing against Fletcher's arm.

Fletcher wasn't pushing her away.

Alexa put the phone down. The smell of the Wagyu beef, rich and fatty, suddenly filled her nostrils with a cloying thickness. She looked at the piece of meat on her fork. The fat had started to congeal as it cooled, turning from translucent to a waxy opaque white.

A wave of nausea rolled through her gut.

Martha appeared from the hallway, her timing impeccable. "Shall I clear the table, Ms. Emerson? You seem... finished."

Alexa stared at the cooling meat. If she let Martha take it, it was an admission of defeat. It was admitting that the photo had ruined her.

"No," Alexa said. She stabbed the fork into the steak. "I'm still eating."

She forced the cold, greasy meat into her mouth. The texture was revolting, coating her tongue in an oily film. She chewed mechanically, her jaw aching. She swallowed, feeling the lump slide down her throat like a stone.

She sat there for another hour. The candle burned down, the wax dripping onto the silver holder in messy tears. The clock on the wall ticked past ten.

Finally, Alexa stood up. She carried the plate to the kitchen herself. She scraped the expensive, barely-eaten meal into the trash compactor. The loud crunch of the machine crushing the food sounded like bones breaking.

"You can go to bed, Martha," Alexa said to the empty room.

She walked into the living room and sat on the white boucle sofa facing the window. The city lights were beautiful and indifferent.

A soft scratching sound came from the terrace door. Alexa turned. A small Calico cat was pressing its nose against the glass. It was a stray she had started feeding a month ago, sneaking it food when Martha wasn't looking.

Alexa unlocked the terrace door just a crack. The cat squeezed through, shivering.

"Hey there," Alexa whispered, her voice cracking. She scooped the animal up. The cat was bony, its fur rough, but it purred instantly against her chest. It was a warm, living weight in a house full of cold surfaces.

"You're the only one happy to see me," she murmured into the cat's fur.

Ding.

The elevator chime shattered the quiet.

The cat hissed and scrambled out of Alexa's arms, darting under the sofa. Alexa stood up, smoothing her skirt with trembling hands. Her heart hammered against her ribs.

Heavy footsteps echoed on the marble floor of the foyer. Then a cough-deep, rattling, sounding like smoke and exhaustion.

Fletcher Montgomery stepped into the living room. He was backlit by the foyer lights, a tall, broad-shouldered silhouette that seemed to suck all the oxygen out of the room. He stopped at the edge of the carpet, standing in the darkness, watching her.