Rose POV
Sofia talked for forty minutes.
She didn't ask for water, nor did she pause to manage how things landed.
It started earlier than any of us had understood.
Tony Bradley had never let go of Sofia. Not when she filed for divorce, or when she walked out of their Beacon Hill townhouse. He'd contested every clause of the settlement, delayed the proceedings by four months, and when the judge finally ruled against him he'd sat in the courtroom and looked at Sofia with an expression she described as patient.
Not angry. Patient.
Like a man who had decided the legal outcome was temporary.
"When I came back to Boston and James offered me the position, I thought I was safe. Tony had moved on publicly. I thought he'd found something else to pour himself into." She looked at her hands, "
