She Drained Me for My Backup

Winona said, "You checked yourself out on a whim and went off to do whatever you pleased. Danny checked himself out because he was thinking about the company. He's been putting in extra days at the office.

"He says he's grateful you donated a kidney and wants to take some of the burden off you. So let him take the deputy director position. It will make it easier for him to handle things on your behalf."

So that was what this was about. She wanted me to hand Daniel my position.

I let out a short laugh and sat down. "Fine. I don't care."

I was dying. None of this was worth holding onto.

I took the pen she offered. Each document had already been opened to the signature page. Habit made me check the cover and opening terms of each one first.

The first was a termination agreement for my deputy director role. I signed without hesitation.

Winona and Daniel exchanged a glance. Both looked surprised.

The second was a property transfer agreement. The apartment was the first thing Winona and I had bought together, back when we scraped together our first real money. It was the only property in my name.

She must have expected a fight, because she rushed to explain. "Danny's family needs somewhere to stay when they come to the city for medical appointments. The place is just sitting there anyway."

They needed just somewhere to stay, and that required a full transfer of ownership? I didn't bother to argue. I signed.

When I reached for the third document, Winona placed her hand over it. "Jordan, have I ever hurt you? Just sign it."

I looked up. Both of them watched me with the same tight, careful expression. I opened it anyway.

It was a share transfer agreement for 20% equity, the stake Winona had given me when we went public as a couple, the moment the entire company learned I was the man she had chosen. Everyone had looked at me as if I had won something.

Winona drew a breath.

"Let me explain…" she began.

I signed immediately. When I finished, I set the pen down and looked at her. "Anything else?"

Winona stared at me, as if she could not process what she was seeing. But this was what she wanted. Everything had been handed over to Daniel. She should have been pleased.

Daniel looked as though he was barely holding back his excitement. He forced his expression into something more restrained.

"Don't worry, Jordan. I'm just holding onto these for you. Once you've recovered, every bit of it goes straight back," he claimed.

I stood without a word. I had only come back for the coffin suit. I had it now, and there was no reason to stay.

I turned to leave.

Behind me, Winona called out, "Jordan, you've lost a lot of weight."

Her voice stopped me more than her words.

I touched my hollow cheek. "It's fine. I'm not dying today."

Something flickered across her face, a small, involuntary flinch. Then, in a voice I had not heard from her in a long time, she spoke quietly. "Have you eaten? I'll heat the leftovers from lunch. I made them myself."

Winona had always been particular about cleanliness, her space, everything. Even at her most devoted to me, she had never cooked a meal for me.

Then Daniel mentioned a stomachache one afternoon, and she taught herself to cook from scratch. She had burned her fingers on hot oil badly enough to blister. I had watched it happen and told her it smelled good. She would not let me touch it, saying it was his.

I was about to tell her not to bother, but she had already gone into the kitchen.

The living room fell silent. It was just me and Daniel.

He looked at me with something open and ugly in his eyes. Then he reached behind his back and produced a bracelet, holding it up with a casual smile. "Jordan, I really like this. I want to give it to my mom. Can I have it?"

That bracelet had been in Winona's keeping for years, locked in the safe.

"You can have anything else, but not that," I said.

"I really can't have it?"

"No."

Daniel clicked his tongue, then dropped it.

He did not place it down. He let it fall hard onto the floor.

Time seemed to slow. I watched the bracelet hit the tile and split into four clean pieces.

"There. I've returned it to you," he said.

He had always been two different people. In front of Winona, he appeared polished and deferential. The moment her back was turned, he became someone else entirely. Every time I tried to tell her, she insisted I was targeting him without reason and accused me of being unreasonable.