Chapter 48

She had chosen Xavier's most handsome photo and then carefully taken one of herself. In the picture, he wore a sleek black suit. His features were sharp and cold. She wore a simple white dress and no makeup. She looked delicate and gentle. She had never noticed anything wrong with the picture before, but now, the more she looked at it, the more mismatched they seemed. She cut the photo in half. It was easy to separate, having been carefully edited together in the first place. Then she tossed one half in the trash. It was the half she was in, the one in which her eyes were full of nothing but Xavier. After that, she put the remaining half back into the frame. 30 minutes later, she left with her suitcase. The spare car she had taken from the Joyner residence last time was still parked nearby, and she drove straight to a hotel. With the window partly rolled down, the cold night wind rushed in. It tangled her hair into a mess. Everything about her felt disordered yet unmistakably