Only after the figures of the man and woman disappeared from view behind the glass storefront did Elena finally move.
She ripped the decorative flower from her hair with a force that bordered on self-mutilation, letting her strands fall messily over her shoulders. Then, she shoved the clerk’s uniform off over her head, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it aside. She slammed the agreed-upon payment into the hands of another clerk and pushed through the door into the mall corridor.
She stopped.
Across the flow of the crowd, by the escalator, Beverly was clinging to Caius’s arm, smiling radiantly as she spoke. Caius tilted his head slightly, affecting the posture of a devoted listener—a look Elena knew all too well.
Her nails dug into her palms.
Marco hurried out of the shop to catch up
