Chapter 1 Violation of the law
The silence in the huge living room, decorated in tones of ivory and solid wood, was almost suffocating. It was past midnight. Natalia sat on the couch, her legs tucked under her, staring at the inert screen of her phone. No messages.
Stefan was back at the Court of Appeals, buried in files, sentences, and decisions that controlled the lives of others. When he would arrive, the protocol had been unchanged for months: a distant kiss on the forehead, the heavy smell of pipe tobacco and fatigue, the sound of the shower water, and finally, his back turned to her, like a wall of ice.
Natalia ran her fingers through her long hair, sighing. She was only twenty-seven years old. By day, in front of the high school students she taught English literature to, she was the picture of distinction and self-control. At night, however, she transformed into a ghost that haunted her own house. She looked at her reflection in the library window. The fine silk robe had slipped gently from one shoulder, revealing white skin, hungry for a touch that wasn’t forced.
“Am I still enough for him?” she asked herself, and the knot in her throat tightened like a vise. “Why doesn’t he look at me like a woman anymore? Am I just a decoration in a judge’s window?” She felt a desperate, almost painful need to be seen. She wanted to lose control, to feel like she was living, not just performing her role as the perfect wife.
