I packed my life into two suitcases and a single cardboard box.

It took me less than forty minutes. I didn’t take the framed prints from the hallway. I didn’t take the wool blanket we bought in Oregon. I left the expensive espresso machine on the counter. I only took what was mine: my winter coats, my work suits, my hard drives, and my research files.

From the kitchen, I took one thing. My mother’s ceramic teapot. It was dark green with a chipped spout. I wrapped it in a cashmere sweater and nestled it into the box.

I didn't leave a note on the dining table. A note was for people who still had things to negotiate. Cassian and I were done speaking.

I hauled the bags down to my Honda, loaded the trunk, and pulled away from the curb. The tires hissed against the wet Seattle asphalt. In the rearview mirror, the lights of our Craftsman house grew small, then vanished into the fog.

I drove straight to Capitol Hill.

Ainsley lived in a red-brick pre-war building near Volunteer Park. It was eleven o'clock when I reached her floor. The hallway smelled of old wood and radiator heat.

I pressed the buzzer.

Footsteps sounded on the hardwood inside. The deadbolt clicked open. Ainsley stood in the frame wearing gray sweatpants and a vintage band tee, her dark hair twisted into a loose bun.

She took one look at my face. She looked down at the two heavy suitcases resting against my shins.

She didn't ask what was wrong. She didn't gasp. She simply stepped to the side and held the door wide.

"Get in," she said softly.

I dragged my bags into the hallway. Ainsley shut the door, locked both latches, and took the cardboard box straight from my arms.

"Kitchen," she instructed.

Her apartment was warm, clean, and smelled of eucalyptus. She set the box on a side chair and pulled a bottle of Cabernet from the wine rack. She filled two heavy tumblers halfway, pushed one into my hand, and sat down on a barstool at the kitchen island.

"Talk," she said.

I didn't cry. My voice was calm, the exact pitch I used when reviewing student dissertations. I sat across from her and laid my phone flat on the marble counter.

I told her about the cold war over the house deed. I showed her Brittany Owens’s posts. I showed her the photo of Cassian’s scarred hand resting on the bare shoulder, the custom sapphire ring catching the light. I told her about the scene on the sidewalk three hours ago—Brittany on her knees, Cassian shielding her, the neighbors watching from the windows.

Ainsley didn't interrupt. Her lawyer brain took over. Her gaze sharpened, tracking every detail. She took small sips of wine, her knuckles pale against the glass.

When I finished, she let out a low whistle.

"The joint account," she said. Her voice was flat and dangerous. "How much did he wire?"

"Two hundred and forty thousand," I said. "Every dollar of my savings since I made associate professor."

Ainsley stood up. She walked over to her desk in the corner, grabbed her MacBook, and set it on the island between us.

"Let's look at the Ballard purchase," she said, her fingers already flying over the keys.

She pulled up the King County property transfer records. She accessed the title company's public filing for Brittany's condo. Ainsley dealt with commercial real estate contracts every day for her firm. She knew where the bodies were buried in closing statements.

"Here it is," Ainsley murmured, tapping the screen. "Ballard corner unit. Two bedrooms, terrace, private parking. It closed on October sixteenth."

She squinted at the bottom line. Then she stopped typing.

Her brow furrowed. "Wait."

"What is it?" I asked.

"The purchase price," she said. She turned the laptop toward me. "The sale closed at five hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Paid in full. Cash."

I looked at the number. My stomach tightened.

"He took two hundred and forty thousand from our joint account," I said, doing the math out loud. "Cassian’s personal checking never has more than fifteen grand in it. He spends money as fast as he makes it. Tailored jackets, vintage scotch, restaurant tabs."

"Exactly," Ainsley said. She grabbed a pen and a notepad, scrawling numbers in bold black ink. "Your joint money only covered less than half of that sale. Even if he liquidated his personal index fund, that’s maybe forty thousand after taxes. Where did the other two hundred and forty thousand come from?"

"A mortgage?" I suggested.

"No," Ainsley pointed to the deed document. "No lien. No lender listed. It’s an unencumbered cash transaction. The full amount cleared from a single private escrow account on October twelfth."

The room went dead silent. The only sound was the hum of the refrigerator.

Cassian didn't have family wealth. His parents were retired public school teachers in Spokane. He had no secret inheritance.

Ainsley set the pen down. She leaned back against the counter, crossed her arms, and looked at me. The sympathy was gone from her face. In its place was something cold, sharp, and lethal.

"Violet," she said slowly. "A university salary doesn't produce a quarter-million dollars of untraceable liquid cash in four days."

"Then where did he get it?"

Ainsley met my eyes. "He’s pulling from somewhere else. And given where he works, I can think of exactly one place."