I flicked my lighter, igniting my cigar, the flame winking in the dim light. “Ms. Ellison, you need to understand this—after all these years of scraping and clawing through the Upper Circle, I bled right there beside you. And now, putting some pretty nobody up against me? Either you’re out of your mind, or he is.”
I slid another copy of the papers across the table, smoke curling behind my words.
“This is your last chance.”
The moon cast a cold light on the marble, but it didn't soften anything. We looked at each other in the dim glow; the moon reflected off my prosthetic limb, cold and shiny.
I spoke plainly, laying it all out. “From the start, you helped me take down my stepmother and storm the Smiths’ house for me. I lost a leg for you and bled for you. Faye, let’s part clean. No debts. No claims. That is the best way for both of us.”
“The best outcome…”
Faye’s soft laugh echoed in the dark.
She picked up the divorce papers.
With a flick of her lighter, she lit her cigarette, and the document browned before burning to ash.
“He will never appear before you again.”
Then, the ashes drifted away on the breeze.
She stood, gathered her dozens of people, and swept out of the estate in a grand procession.
A cramp knotted my calf, and I bent over without meaning to.
Hands were immediately at my side to steady me. “Mr. Chester!”
“I’m fine…” My voice came out weak. “Just an old injury.”
Since I lost my right leg, rainy days have always brought on this pain, and even the best doctors couldn’t alleviate it.
Maybe it was my heart that ached this time; the pain was harder to bear.
And so, I ended up at the hospital for treatment.
It was there that the scene unfolded.
Harvey made a scene in the ward.
“Why don’t you just kill him! Isn’t that bastard as easy to crush as an ant for you? I want him dead! If you won’t do it, I will!”
And he really did scoop up a dagger and stride for the door.
Stopping him, Faye grabbed his wrist and yanked him back with force.
The blade sliced her palm, and she collapsed into his arms.
Her bloodied hand rose to cup his face.
Tears welled in Harvey’s eyes as he bowed his head, and their lips met in a desperate, tangled kiss.
The dagger slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor.
For a moment, the air held only their intimate entanglement.
Once, Faye and I had embraced in blood. Now, she and Harvey kissed in blood.
Right then, the door opened.
Harvey saw me.