Alex stood in the living room of the penthouse apartment he had shared with Judy for the past year, holding an envelope containing the final payment, fifty thousand dollars as stipulated in their contract.

The date circled on the calendar had finally arrived, the one-year mark, the official end of their arrangement, and he felt a strange hollowness in his chest that he couldn't quite name.

Judy was in the bedroom, he could hear her moving around, opening drawers, the sound of a suitcase ...