Too late to beg, Mr Ex

on my plate when th

s's speech. Eleven. Twelve, if you counted the man from the bank who was pretending to read the program. My left shoe was pinching.

e a gunshot, and

g in the light. Someone was shouting about the exits. Somewhere a gl

houlder. One hand was under the wood. His face was turned toward the far side of the room,

flat on the floor and pu

d. It was dusty, and

s shoulders, and lifted. She came out easily. "I've got you," he said,

ant to admit. Then I put it back

. Her lip was split. She wasn't crying. Her eyes went to my han

ed to call. I said yes. I didn't call anyone. The ambulance that took Chris and Zoe left before I'd even got m

low, a man talking about mortgage rates, and he

e out the staircase by the glow from the street, and the framed photo from the Kes

The study door was open a few inches. Chris was on speaker with Gera

I built before the marriage stays mine. She

she's yo

ughed, not unkindly, the way yo

o the house settle, trying to remember the last time he'd

he divorce papers were inside, signed in my handwriting. I had signed them twice, because the first time my

oyalty every quarter, and that money had been my only income since. The licence also let me withdraw permission in writing at any time. My lawyer had drafted the notice in March,

hall and stood where the light

e was rushing. Zoe had been kept overnight for observation. Priya had told me that much on the phone. So Chris had

just looked a

the marble. He left it there. He read the first page, then the secon

d you si

o'cl

od

es

along the edge of the page, back and forth, the wa

e at the gala," he said.

d

sat down and

le. My hand ke

it might tear. Then he looked up, past the co

when do you

six. Every one of th

ys the fees, and it's the one that pays you." He put his finger under a line near the bottom. "Section four. Royal

t section two years ago, and I had t

said. It wasn't a question, and he didn

the months of rent in my head, and the numb

switch on the wall, hes