If he thinks Lily needs professional help, he’ll agree to anything I suggest.” In another, they argued over timing.

“Once he signs off on the property management agreement, we have leverage.” “What if his attorney reviews it first?” “Then we make sure he signs the authorization before he runs it past her.” Marcus listened to it all, in Victoria’s office, and felt the last warmth of a year of his life curdle into something he would never get back.

His marriage had not merely failed.

It had never existed.