DAISY

The silence of the penthouse wasn't peaceful as I lay on my side in the center of the massive king-sized bed, staring at the green digital glare of the clock. My skin still felt tight and raw from the scalding water of the shower, but the freezing vacuum inside my chest wouldn't fade. Brian was gone. He hadn't just walked into the study to ignore me, and he wasn't pacing the hallway. The sharp ring of his keys on the marble console table downstairs hours ago had been the final, definitive punctuation mark on my failure.

He was right. Every single word he had leveled at me on the...