A Bra Strap's Shadow

Layla was raised to become the future Mrs. Walker, and Connor, the sole heir of the Walker family, had no say in his own marriage. At eighteen, she saw him fasten a scholarship student's bra strap; eight years later, he returned from abroad and proposed to her, and she accepted the arranged union. Yet Manhattan's elite whisper that a portrait of that student, Chloe Davis, is locked away in his study.

Three years into the marriage, Layla suggests divorce. Connor signs after a long silence, then rushes out at night to Chloe, who has been hurt and has no one else to turn to. When Layla calls his help for a club employee a brawl, his eyes turn cold and he warns her to stay out of it. The old accusations return: he once believed she leaked the photo that ruined Chloe in high school.

As dawn breaks, a photo of Connor and Chloe entering a hotel arrives, along with a message from someone back in her life. Layla answers it, then lays the divorce papers in front of her husband.