I left my wife outside in the freezing cold because my sister yelled, “That woman is using you”; when I opened the balcony door I found a fingerprint, a cigarette butt and an unfinished letter, but what destroyed me the most was knowing who those $8,000 were really for.

was still there, cold and silent, with the memory of that night clinging to the glass. One afternoon she stood in front of the door.

Liam watched her from the kitchen. “I can’t live here,” she said without turning around. “Every time I see that balcony, I feel the lock clicking again.”

Liam put down the glass he was holding. “We’re leaving.”

“You don’t continue reading …