The automatic glass doors of the Chimera building slid shut behind me, silencing the curated hum of innovation and sealing me out of my own life. The San Francisco air, thick with the smell of sea salt and exhaust, felt alien. For three years, the only world I had truly inhabited was the one I’d built behind those doors. Now, I was an exile on a familiar street.
My hand felt unnaturally heavy. I glanced down at the platinum band on my left ring finger, the two-carat diamond Julian had picked out now catching the afternoon sun like a shard of ice. He’d called it a “prototype for our future.” A beta test for a lifetime commitment. It seemed the final product had failed to meet specifications.
I didn’t cry. The shock had burned away my tears, leaving behind a crystalline, cold clarity. Hyst
