THE beautiful Monday morning cast a soft golden hue across the city streets as Oswald’s black SUV cruised smoothly through the bustling traffic. Orlanda and Oswald sat quietly in the back seat, an invisible wall drawn thick between them. Nathan occupied the front beside the chauffeur, barely uttering a word, sensing the tension that weighed down the air like a brewing storm.

Orlanda faced the window the entire time, her cheek resting against the glass ever so lightly as her eyes followed the passing scenes, the pedestrians, the noisy market women, the schoolchildren with lunchboxes, the suited workers with briefcases. Each passing image seemed to mock her silence, only deepening...