Daniel ignored her and looked at me. “You destroyed me.”
I studied his face. Once, that face had made me rearrange meetings, forgive lies, and apologize for pain he had caused. Now it was simply a face.
“No,” I said. “I stopped paying for you.”
His mouth opened, then closed.
My father appeared beside me, holding the elevator door.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded.
As the elevator doors slid shut, Daniel remained standing there, alone beneath the courthouse lights.
Two months later, my company hosted a client dinner at a different venue. Not Aurum House. I had no interest in rooms where men tried to buy importance with someone else’s card.
Grace handled the guest list. Margaret attended as a friend. My father sat at the head of the table, pretending not to enjoy the expensive steak I had ordered for him.
At the end of the night, he raised his glass.
“To clean exits,” he said.
I smiled. “To changed PINs.”
Everyone laughed, but I meant it more deeply than they understood.
