“They didn’t create my arrogance,” he went on. “They didn’t create the way I dismissed you. They studied those things and used them. That makes them responsible for the operation.

It doesn’t make them responsible for the husband I became.”

Lena looked away. For seven years she had imagined Adrian finally understanding, and in those imaginings she had believed the recognition would heal something.

Now that it had arrived, it felt smaller than the damage.

“Why did you stay?” he asked.

“I loved you.”