Chapter 3

At first, Elena would still admit that she was wrong, that she'd let her feelings wander somewhere they shouldn't have. She'd beg me to forgive her. But over time, that changed. It stopped being a request and became a notification.

Every time we fought about it, Jasper would somehow always find a reason to call her away.

"Owen, Elena's drunk at a bar and threatening to kill herself. You need to go check on her."

In front of other people, she never let me use any term of endearment for her. She wouldn't let me so much as touch her, wouldn't even walk beside me in public. To the outside world, she claimed we had nothing to do with each other.

Only a handful of people close to her knew the truth. According to her, it was to protect my career, to avoid rumors.

Jasper got the opposite treatment entirely. Elena didn't care who saw them holding hands or his arm around her waist. She didn't even flinch when paparazzi leaked intimate photos of the two of them, as long as it didn't hurt his image.

Looking at our marriage certificate, the whole thing felt absurd. I was her legal husband in every sense of the word, yet I was the one being treated like some shameful secret. I felt like a joke, like it didn't matter whether I existed or not.

I was the only person on earth who knew I still loved her.

I let out a cold laugh and told him, "That's her business. Why come to me?"

Because of Jasper, divorce had become the one thing hanging over us, unresolved. I loved Elena too much. Even with her cheating on me, I still couldn't bring myself to end things. But she'd grown to despise me so much that even sitting across from me at dinner made her uncomfortable.

She brought up the divorce papers more times than I could count, always over the phone. The reason it was always calls or texts was simple. She was too busy with Jasper to see me in person, let alone actually sit down and talk.

The only chance we ever got to be in the same room was at the family estate. During one of those gatherings, I tried to bring up the divorce with her, and her grandmother, Iris Sinclair, overheard us. She was so upset she passed out right there on the spot.

Elena looked at me like I was the enemy, like I'd deliberately refused to step aside for the man she loved, like I'd hurt her family on purpose. It was as if she hadn't been the one who had caused all of this.

I heard Iris had a long talk with her after she woke up, and Elena started coming home more after that. But there was nothing left for us to say to each other.

By that point, I didn't see the point in putting on this one-man show anymore. I needed to face the truth. Whatever we once had was gone. I wasn't selfless enough to keep trailing after her, hoping she'd notice me. I remembered the words that had gotten me into this life in the first place.

"Your face is exactly what it takes to become a top actor. It'll help me expand my business into entertainment too."

That was all it took for me to give up my dream of starting my own company and dive headfirst into the messy world of show business, just to carve out a path for her. Now that I finally saw things clearly, I wasn't going to waste the rest of my life on this.

If a divorce was what she wanted, I'd give it to her. That way, we'd owe each other nothing.

My assistant, Zach Brown, was someone I'd rescued from a gang of thugs in an alley behind a bar. He'd stuck with me ever since I entered the industry, and knew exactly how deep my feelings for Elena ran.

"Owen, Elena's just lost her head over him for a while. She'll come around and see how good you've been to her. If you walk away now, you're giving up everything you've built. You worked so hard for all of it."

He was right. It was just a shame that everything I'd once fought so hard to win for her sake, I didn't want anymore.

Elena had no idea I'd already packed my things and moved out of the house. She didn't know I'd signed the divorce papers either.

After all, she was too busy mourning the lover who had supposedly taken his own life.