Chapter 6 - The Architect's Blueprint
The taxi ride through the downtown traffic felt surreal. The city lights blurred into long streaks of gold and crimson against the rain-spotted windows of the cab. Maya still wore the white strapless wedding dress, though she had thrown Zoe’s oversized denim jacket over her shoulders to hide the revealing bodice from the driver’s rear-view mirror. Zoe sat beside her in silence, her phone clutched in her hand, scrolling furiously through local news and wedding group chats as if searching for an escape hatch that didn't exist.
"If Isaiah’s apartment is locked and he doesn't answer, what's plan B?" Zoe asked without looking up from her screen.
"There is no plan B," Maya replied, staring straight ahead at the back of the driver's head. Her mind was a chaotic storm of memories—Isaiah building bookshelves for her apartment on their third date, Isaiah holding her hair back when she had food poisoning, Isaiah quietly listening to her talk about Corey without ever judging her past. He had given her everything, and she had repaid him with a casual confession of emotional cowardice spoken to a friend while he stood just inches away behind a grey curtain.
The cab pulled up in front of the sleek glass-and-steel high-rise where Isaiah lived on the twenty-second floor. Maya paid the driver with trembling fingers, ignoring the man's curious glance at her bridal gown.
As they walked through the heavy revolving doors of the lobby, the doorman—a middle-aged man named Arthur who had smiled at Maya just yesterday when she dropped off duplicate apartment keys—gave her a long, devastatingly neutral look.
"Evening, Miss Maya," Arthur said, his voice entirely devoid of its usual warmth. He didn't reach for the elevator call button.
Maya froze, her heart stopping in her chest. "Arthur? Is Isaiah upstairs?"
Arthur looked down at his desk before meeting her eyes. "Mr. Vance checked out of the building an hour ago, Miss Maya. He had two suitcases and a garment bag. He told me to tell you, if you came by, that the key is in the lock of unit 2204."
Zoe let out a sharp breath beside her. "Checked out? Where did he go?"
May you like
"He didn't say, ma'am," Arthur replied softly, sliding a brass key across the mahogany reception counter. "Just said he wouldn't be needing the parking space anymore either."
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