For the first time in thirty years, Calvino extracted the photograph from the locked drawer. Let himself look at them, let the memories out, too.
He’d been mad, he knew now, almost blind with it. Had they planned it that way? Played him so he’d agree to take one third when he could have had it all? Had he really thought that having Ellie made up for getting one third? He’d wondered so many times after the madness faded, and he was left looking into Ellie’s eyes and seeing…nothing.
He’d known she didn’t love him when he made her marry him. He’d thought it wouldn’t matter. That getting her, possessing her would be enough. It wasn’t. He hadn’t known someone could hide so deep inside themselves that no one could find them. He didn’t know how she did it, just that she had. She’d managed to de
