Croft POV
The Bentley Mulsanne pulled to a silent curb outside Jennifer’s modest apartment building; a flaw in the landscape. Soon, I would rectify that. In my hand, I held a small, black folder. Inside was not a piece of jewelry, but a deed to a house in the new "Austerlitz Tower" overlooking Lady Bird Lake. A more practical gift, I thought. A step toward the life she was meant to inhabit.
This was my style: unannounced, unpredictable. It kept the world off-balance, and I preferred it that way. I dismissed my driver with a nod and took the stairs, finding a certain satisfaction in the cheap paint and worn carpet. This was the before; I was the after.
I rang the bell. A moment of silence, then the soft shuffle of feet. The door opened, and there she was: Jennifer. Her hair was tied back
