YOU TOLD HIM HE WOULD BE YOUR FIRST… THEN FIVE MINUTES LATER, A KNOCK AT THE HOTEL DOOR EXPOSED THE LIE THAT SHATTERED YOUR ENTIRE LIFE

You are twenty-five years old, standing in Room 806 of the tallest hotel in downtown Chicago, with your purse clutched so tightly against your ribs that your fingers ache. The city glows beneath the windows like a carpet of electric gold, but all you can hear is your own pulse, hard and frantic, pounding in your ears. You came here by …