20
Daniel
Iwake to silence.
Complete, suffocating silence.
For a moment, I forget. Then reality crashes down: Bailey is gone. I destroyed her. I chose this.
The bed beside me is cold, perfectly made. She hasn't been here in days. Her toothbrush is gone from the bathroom. Her drawer—the one I’d cleared for her clothes—sits empty.
I tell myself this is what I wanted. Control restored. Company saved. Safety secured.
The words are lies.
I go through my morning routine on autopilot. Shower. Suit. Coffee I don't taste. The penthouse feels like a mausoleum, full of ghosts I can't escape.
Her sweater is still draped over the chair in the living room. I can't bring myself to touch it.
This was necessary. I protected her. I did the right thing.
The mantra rings hollow.
***
The office is worse.
Everyone congratulates me for "handling the situation." Maxwell claps me on the shoulder in the hallway. "Good work, Daniel. That relationship was becoming a liability."
The word makes me flinch.
"Glad you came to your senses," he continues. "Can't let personal entanglements destroy what we've built."
I nod. Say something that sounds like agreement. Walk away before he can see my hands shaking.
In my office, I try to work. Try to focus on the Larsson deal, on the quarterly projections, on anything that isn't Bailey's face when I called her a liability.
My phone buzzes. Lottie's name flashes across the screen.
"The investors are already calming down," she says when I answer. "Patricia called this morning. Said she's impressed you made the tough call."
"Great."
"Daniel, are you—"
"I'm fine. Just busy."
Silence on her end. Then: "Okay. But if you need anything—"
I hang up before she can finish.
Through the glass walls of my office, I can see Bailey's old desk being cleared out. Maintenance workers packing up her things. Her designs, her sketches, her coffee mug with the chipped handle she refused to replace.
I watch them throw it all into boxes.
One of them pulls something from her cubicle wall—a sketch pinned there. The paper girl. Her animation character.
He tosses it toward the recycling bin. It misses, lands on the floor.
