Page 37 of Money Reigns
That will change.
On her vanity, I find it. A bottle of perfume. The kind that comes from a plastic blister pack in the drugstore aisle, shaped like an imitation of the real thing.
One spray and it’s gone in an hour.
I lift it, roll it between my fingers. Hold it to the light like it’s a joke.
She thinks this is luxury.
She has no idea whatrealluxury smells like.
I’ll get her the original.
She needs it.
She’ll smell like silk and smoke before I’m done with her.
I set the bottle back down exactly where it was, then take another slow look around.
The cheap linens on her bed. The dented nightstand. The empty picture frames, like she bought them on clearance and never got around to filling them.
This place is a cage, and she doesn’t even see the bars.
I imagine filling it with what she should have. A proper bed. Furniture that doesn’t creak. Clothes that don’t come off the rack at discount stores. Silk instead of cotton. Glass instead of plastic.
My vines are already in the cracks, winding through her life, bleeding like smoke into her walls.
She won’t even notice until it’s too late.
I turn back toward the nightstand—and freeze.
A picture frame. The cheap kind, metal edging slightly bent. But it isn’t empty.
It’s her. Younger. Cap and gown. Smiling. Flanked by three men who all carry the same stubborn eyes. Brothers, I assume. Arms looped around her shoulders, standing too close like they’d fight the world to protect her.
Something sharp twists in my chest.
Family.
Her family.
I stare at it too long, longer than I mean to, before setting it face-down.
I breathe once, steady, and step back. The key twirls in my hand as I leave the apartment, locking it behind me.
A voice breaks the quiet.
“War?”
Broderick.
Of course.
He’s just stepping out of his own apartment, brows furrowing when he spots me standing outside Olivia’s door.
“There you are,” I say smoothly, slipping the key back into my pocket. “You left at lunch.”
Brody blinks, caught off guard. “Yeah, since you had lunch with Liv, I figured I’d go out for a bit.”
