I looked at the check in his hand and did not take it.

“How could you do this to me,” I said, my voice shaking, “after everything we built.”

He gave a dry little laugh and looked down at me the way you’d look at something you’d already thrown away.

“You don’t fit into my life anymore, Vesper.

I need a woman who can walk at my level.

Not one who’s still standing in the past with the good dishes and the school uniforms.” He said it lightly, almost kindly, which was worse.