Janae had had the perfect life at one time. She had a bouncing baby boy, a promising career in finance, and a town house in Bethesda. Everything was perfect. She even had the obligatory drugged-out, womanizing, football-player fiancé, Trevor Nolan. It all ended one day when Trevor ran a red light into a busy intersection with Little Trevor and another woman in the car with him. Janae’s son was dead before he’d made it to the hospital. On a busy street in broad daylight, there were no eyewitnesses. Trevor would never play football again, and the other woman walked away without a scratch. Janae was so devastated that she couldn’t work and was let go. She moved in with Bev and Granny to get back on her feet, but it had been slow going. Janae was kinder, gentler, and more fragile than anyone she’d ever met. For a long while after, Liza wondered how God could have allowed this to happen to someone so unambiguously good. But now Janae was drinking again, and the pain was going to wash over her, and it would be at least three weeks of locked doors and bleak silence. Three years later, Janae had never seen a therapist, despite Liza’s nudging. She just drank and disappeared into herself. She was one year sober—until today. Liza had to get there.

“Janae, I’m coming for you, okay?” Liza couldn’t hide the fear in her voice.

“Liza, you are so dramatic. But come. I’ll wait for you here.” Janae rattled off the address for Pemberley Development before hanging up, and Liza took a seat on the metro. She had gotten only five stops when a watery voice sounded over the intercom.

“I’m afraid this is our last stop. The train ahead of us is stuck in the snow. We cannot move forward and have no timeline for when the train ahead will be moved. Please try to make other travel arrangements.”

Liza did not know how much the weather had changed in her hour underground. As she climbed the stairs, she was greeted with a near whiteout. Her thin ballet slippers seemed like a cruel joke now. Pemberley was still about a mile and a half west, according to her phone’s navigation app. She squared her shoulders and braced herself for the cold.

The glass revolving door swooshed her into the deserted office building, and a heavenly warmth blasted down from above. She glanced at the directory. The offices of Pemberley were on the top five floors. She stepped into the elevator and pressed all five. When the doors opened at the first stop, Liza saw Jennifer, David’s icy sister. She was just as sleek as ever, and her eyes narrowed in recognition at Liza.

“Do you need a job too?” Jennifer said, stepping inside the elevator. She sounded perfectly polite and genuinely uninterested at the same time.