Ch. 2: The Offer

If someone had told her a year ago that she would be standing here, she would have laughed.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me," Nina said. "I'm asking you to listen." For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all. For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me," Nina said. "I'm asking you to listen." For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all.

Money could buy a great many things, she had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. Nina crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way she was watching without seeming to. Money could buy a great many things, she had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most.

He had built his whole life on being certain. She had a way of making certainty feel like a cage.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me," Nina said. "I'm asking you to listen." The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered.

He watched her go and understood, too late, that he had already made his choice.