CHAPTER 8: The Company Before the Goodbye

Mark found his voice only when Emily was back on her feet.
“Emily, listen to me,” he said. “Whatever you think this is, we can fix it.”
The words might have worked on another woman, on another night, in another room where no glass glittered on the floor.
But the penthouse had stopped being his stage.
Emily looked at him with quiet clarity.
His tie was still loosened. The white rose still lay where it had fallen. The broken champagne glass still marked the exact place where illusion had shattered.
She realized that all evening Mark had believed he held the order of events in his hands.
He thought he could betray her, frighten her, throw her down emotionally if not publicly, and still leave the room with status intact.
He was wrong in the order that mattered most.
He had lost power before he lost her.
He simply had not noticed.