Chapter 9

A week has gone by since the incident with Cillian. He hadn't returned home since then, but Bellatrix did come across him at the office—always in tailored suits, eyes cold, voice businesslike—but he never glanced her way beyond necessity. The distance between them had solidified into something almost professional, the usual way he treated her, like she didn't exit. But surprisingly, Bellatrix didn’t feel the usual hurt that wrapped itself around her heart. She felt peace. At home, the house, although quiet and lonely, gave her the type of peace and solace she never found when she was in Cillian's suffocating presence. It was a quiet, solemn kind of serenity. One that Bellatrix could easily see herself getting used to for the next 3 months of her life, after the divorce. That weekend, after work, she met Avery and Claire, another friend of hers, at the bar where Claire worked. It was mid-afternoon, and the place was still asleep from its nightly riot. Wooden stools stood like sentries,