“Sit,” Evelyn said. “Eat. Drink something.
You need strength.”
A staff member appeared like magic with a tray of tea and something warm that smelled like ginger and honey. “You’re helping me because…?”
Evelyn folded her hands. “Because thirty years ago, I stood at a Greyhound stop in Dayton while a man I loved drove away with my future in his glove compartment.”
Her gaze hardened.
“And because women like us do not shatter. We reorganize.”
She slid a small metal box across the table. “Inside is something I give only to people I intend to protect.”
I opened it.
A sleek black phone. New. Untraceable.
Activated. “Call anyone you need,” she said. “Lawyers.
Bankers. Friends. Or no one at all.
But you will not crawl back to that boy like a beggar.”
A boy. That’s what Marcus was to her—nothing more than a reckless child playing at being a man. My throat tightened.
“What if he tries to come back?”
Evelyn’s smile was sharp enough to cut glass. “Oh, darling—he already will.”
As if summoned, the penthouse intercom buzzed. “Ma’am,” the concierge said, hesitant.
“There’s a man downstairs. Says he’s looking for a woman he left on CR-19.”
I felt my heartbeat in my teeth. Evelyn pressed one button.
“Tell him,” she said smoothly, “she’s with family.”
⭐ THE LOBBY
We took the private elevator—polished brass and quiet power. When the doors opened, Marcus was pacing, hair wild, panic thick on his face. His shirt was wrinkled, his shoes dusted with dirt from where he’d left me standing.
He rushed forward. “Naomi! Thank God—look, I didn’t mean—”
Evelyn stepped between us.
“You’ll address me first,” she said coldly. Marcus blinked. “Who… who are you?”
She leveled her gaze at him like a judge preparing a sentence.
“The woman who owns the building your wife is standing in. And the woman whose driver picked her up while you ran from her like a coward.”
Marcus swallowed hard. “I—I made a mistake.
I was overwhelmed. I can fix this, I swear—”
I stepped beside Evelyn. “Actually,” I said quietly, “you did fix it.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“You gave me a clean exit.”
His mouth dropped open. “Naomi—don’t do this. I panicked.
I didn’t think—”
“That’s the problem,” Evelyn cut in. “You didn’t think you’d ever be held accountable.”
Marcus looked between the two of us, desperation rising. “Just give me another chance—”
I shook my head.
“No. You left me on the side of the road like trash.”
My voice didn’t waver. “And you don’t get to come back after that.”
Evelyn touched my arm—light, approving.
Marcus tried one last time. “Naomi… please. I love you.”
I gave him the smallest, saddest smile.
“No, Marcus. You loved the life I built for you. Now try building one of your own.”
Evelyn looked at the concierge.
“Escort him out.”
Marcus reached for me once. I stepped back. And the guards took him away.
His voice echoed behind us:
“Naomi! Don’t do this! Please!”
But the elevator doors closed.
And silence swallowed him whole. ⭐ THE VERDICT
Back upstairs, Evelyn poured two glasses of champagne. “You start again tomorrow,” she said.
“Stronger. Sharper. With people who see your worth.”
I raised my glass.
“And him?”
Evelyn laughed softly. “Oh, darling. The universe will handle him.”
She looked out over the city—the lights, the traffic, the endless possibilities.
“But first,” she added, winking, “let’s make sure he regrets the day he left you at that bus stop.”
We clinked glasses. A new life beginning where the old one ended—in dust, headlights…
…and a stranger in the dark who wasn’t blind at all.
