Chapter 5 No.5

I pushed open the door to the apartment I had shared with Ben for three years. The air was stale, thick with the smell of old takeout and his cheap cologne. He was sprawled on the sofa, bathed in the blue light of a basketball game, a half-eaten bag of chips resting on his stomach.

He looked up, his eyes widening when he saw the suitcase I wheeled in behind me. The surprise melted into a practiced look of concern, the one he used when he was about to lie. "Izzy, where have you been? I was worried sick."

I ignored the performance. My movements were calm, deliberate, as I set the suitcase by the door. Not a single tremor in my hands. In my other life, I'd dismantled billion-dollar deals built on more sophisticated lies than his. This was child's play.

I walked to the coffee table and picked up the half-empty mug of coffee that had been sitting there for at least a day. I brought it to my nose. The sour smell of cold, bitter liquid filled my senses. My lip curled slightly.

Ben scrambled off the sofa, rushing toward me, his arms outstretched. "Baby, I know you're still mad at me. Just let me explain..."

I took a single, sharp step back. His hands fell, hovering uselessly in the air between us. My gaze was ice. "Explain? Explain why you've been wearing the same Ralph Lauren shirt for three days?"

His face went stiff. He glanced down at his wrinkled blue oxford shirt as if seeing it for the first time. "I... I've been so busy with the project. I haven't had time to go home."

A small, humorless laugh escaped my lips. It was a dry, brittle sound in the quiet room. "Too busy to change your shirt, but you had time to change your perfume?"

I closed the distance between us, stepping into his personal space. I leaned in, pretending to sniff the collar of his shirt, my voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "It's Jo Malone's Bluebell, isn't it? Haylie's favorite. She always said it smelled 'expensive.'"

His pupils contracted to pinpricks. The color drained from his face, leaving a pasty, gray pallor. Panic flickered in his eyes. "No, that's not-you're mistaken. I must have picked it up from someone in a meeting..."

I cut through his stuttering denial, my voice soft but clear, each word a perfectly sharpened blade. "One last question, Ben." I held up my left hand, the cheap silver ring he'd given me catching the dim light. "Do you remember what you said to me when you gave me this?"

He saw the ring and grabbed onto it like a drowning man seizing a piece of driftwood. His expression shifted instantly to one of deep, theatrical sincerity. "Of course I remember. I said that even though it was only silver now, one day I'd replace it with the biggest diamond in the world."

The last ounce of warmth I might have felt, the last ghost of the woman I had pretended to be, vanished. I stated the fact flatly. "No. Your exact words were, 'A cheap silver ring like this is all a naive fool like you deserves.'"

He looked like I had struck him. The blood drained from his face completely. He couldn't comprehend how I knew. He couldn't fathom that I had a recording of him bragging about it to Haylie.

Slowly, with the deliberate grace of a surgeon finishing a procedure, I slid the silver ring off my finger. My eyes never left his, pinning him in place.

"You were right," I said, my voice a dead, even tone. "It's a perfect fit."

My fingers uncurled. The ring dropped into the cold coffee mug with a soft plink. The silver band sank quickly, disappearing into the dregs at the bottom. I didn't wait for it to settle. I turned my back on him.

I walked to the door and took the handle of my suitcase. "Because it, along with you, and the three years we wasted, are all the same. Worse than trash."

He finally broke out of his stupor, his shock turning to rage. He lunged, trying to grab my arm. "Isabella! Are you insane? You're nothing without me!"

My hand was already on the doorknob. I didn't turn around. I just stated a simple, undeniable fact. "Soon, you'll find out exactly who is nothing."

I pulled the door open and stepped out, the sound of my heels clicking decisively on the linoleum of the hallway. The door swung shut behind me, the soft click of the latch severing the final thread to that life.

I walked down the dimly lit corridor, pulling my suitcase behind me. The building's front door swung shut, and the night air hit my face – cold, sharp, and clean.

I didn't look back.

But I didn't see what was waiting across the street.

A black Maybach, its windows tinted to black glass, sat idling under a broken streetlight. The engine was off, the headlights dead. It had been there for hours.

Inside the back seat, a man leaned forward, his silhouette sharp against the glow of a phone screen. He had been watching the apartment building's entrance since sunset. Watching for her.

The woman who had just walked out. The woman dragging a cheap suitcase, her back straight, her steps unhurried. She looked like nothing – a tired office worker leaving her boyfriend. But the man in the car knew better.

He had read the encrypted message that arrived an hour ago. The one from Alger Park's private server. The one that said: "The niece is back. She's unstable. She's leaving him. She'll be vulnerable. Move now."

The man in the car smiled. A slow, cold smile.

Unstable? Vulnerable?

He had just watched Isolde Park walk out of that building like a queen leaving a burning castle. She wasn't running. She was marching.

He lifted his phone to his ear. It rang once. Then a voice answered.

"She's out," the man said, his tone flat, professional. "The bait is on the move."

A pause on the other end. Then: "Do you have a visual?"

"I've had it for three hours." He watched as she climbed into a taxi, her face illuminated for a split second by the dome light. Even from this distance, he could see her eyes. There was no grief in them. No tears. Just ice.

The voice on the phone spoke again. "Stick with her. Report her location. And... don't let her see you."

The man in the car ended the call. The screen flickered, revealing a name: Jaxson Banks.

He leaned back into the leather seat and tapped his fingers on the armrest. The taxi's taillights disappeared around the corner.

"Phase two," he murmured to himself. "Let's see what you're really made of, Isolde Park."

The Maybach pulled away from the curb, silent as a predator, and melted into the night.