Chapter 6 - THE WEIGHT OF CARBON
The grand living room was completely empty.
The guests had vanished, leaving only half-empty champagne glasses and the low hum of the jazz music.
The Christmas tree lights continued their steady, oblivious blinking.
The woman walked to the center of the room, her boots leaving faint traces of concrete dust on the Persian rug.
The boy was asleep against her shoulder, his chest rising and falling in a slow, exhausted rhythm.
His dirty fingers were still tangled in the collar of her blazer.
She stopped in front of a massive, polished marble coffee table.
The dark stone reflected the golden lights of the tree like a calm, black lake.
She slowly lowered her bruised right hand.
Her index and middle fingers were already swelling, the skin turning a deep, angry purple.
She raised her left hand, hovering it over the marble surface.
Her thumb pressed against the base of her ring finger.
She pushed against the thick platinum band.
Resting on top of the metal was a massive, flawless, emerald-cut diamond.
It caught the light from every angle, shooting tiny rainbows across the dark fabric of her blazer.
It was heavy.
It was cold.
It was the shackle that had built this house.
She slid the metal over her knuckle.
She pulled her hand away, leaving the ring suspended between her thumb and forefinger for a fraction of a second.
She opened her fingers.
The diamond plummeted.
It struck the absolute center of the black marble table.
Clink.
The metallic sound was sharp and incredibly high-pitched.
The ring bounced wildly on the hard stone.
Clink. Clatter.
It spun in a tight, erratic circle, the heavy stone throwing it off balance.
Tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk.
The sound grew faster and quieter as the ring settled flat against the polished marble.
It lay perfectly still, a cold piece of carbon abandoned in the center of the room.
The woman didn't wait for it to stop spinning.
She turned her back to the marble table.
May you like
She adjusted the weight of the sleeping boy on her hip.
She walked out the front door, stepping directly into the cold, black night.
