Last night, I heard my husband giving my PIN to his mother while I was asleep: ‘Take it all out, there’s over a hundred and twenty thousand dollars on it.’ I just smiled and went back to sleep. Forty minutes later, his phone buzzed with a text from his mom: “Son, she knew everything. Something’s happening to me…” Then the phone suddenly went dead.

Kiana pulled her phone from her robe pocket and texted her friend Shauna.

Hey, can I come over today? I need to talk.

The reply came almost instantly.

Of course. What happened?

I’ll tell you when I see you. I’ll be over around ten.

Kiana put her phone away and leaned back in her chair.

Inside, she was calm.

Not happy, not sad—just calm, like after a long illness, when the crisis has passed and all that remains is to wait for recovery.

She had lived with Darius for five years.

Five years of hope, habit, and compromise.

Five years of the illusion that everything would somehow work out.

But now the illusions were gone.

Only facts remained.

Fact one: her husband and his mother had planned to steal her money.

Fact two: they didn’t feel a shred of remorse.

Fact three: that meant it was over.

Kiana stood up and walked to the window.

The sky outside the glass had completely brightened, tinged with pale pink.

A beautiful sunrise.

Too bad it followed such a vile night.