CHAPTER TWO:

Pain flashes across his face for the first time tonight.

Good.

I toss it onto the bed beside the other woman.

“Happy anniversary.”

Then I turn toward the door.

“Amelia, wait.”

He catches my wrist in the hallway.

The second he touches me, disgust crawls violently across my skin and I yank free immediately.

“Don’t fucking touch me!”

Something in my expression finally unsettles him because his face tightens.

“Let’s go home and talk.”

Home.

As if home still exists after this.

I look him dead in the eyes.

“I’m divorcing you.”

Shock flashes across his face instantly then disbelief.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Ridiculous….ridiculous he said.

And suddenly…..Suddenly something inside me dies completely.

Not my love.

Worse.

My hope.

“You don’t deserve me anymore,” I whisper.

Then I walk away.

This time, he doesn’t stop me.

—

Rain soaks my hair by the time I reach my car.

The second I shut the door, the tears finally come.

A sob tears from my chest as I collapse forward against the steering wheel.

Three years.

Three fucking years.

Gone.

I cry until my throat burns and mascara stains my cheeks.

Then slowly…..Very slowly…..The heartbreak hardens into something else.

Resolve.

I wipe my face with shaking fingers before grabbing my phone.

Claire Bennett.

My best friend and my lawyer.

The line picks up almost immediately.

“Amelia?”

The second I hear her voice, my composure nearly cracks again.

“He cheated on me.”

Silence.

Then Claire says carefully, “Where are you?”

“At the Grand Chester.”

Another pause.

Then softly, “What do you need from me? I’ll do anything.”

I stare through the rain-covered windshield at the city lights blurring outside.

At the life I thought I had, at the marriage that just died tonight.

Then I whisper the words that change everything.

“I need you to draft divorce papers.”

Claire doesn’t hesitate.

“Done.”

I close my eyes.

And for the first time all night….i stop hoping Ethan Walker will choose me.

Because finally… I’m choosing myself instead.

———————

I wake up with a headache so violent it feels like someone split my skull open during the night and for a few seconds, I don’t remember why.

I just stare blankly at the ceiling above me while sunlight spills weakly through the curtains.

Then everything crashes back at once, the hotel room, the woman, Ethan cheating on me.

An ache tears through my chest so suddenly I curl onto my side, pressing my hand against my ribs like I can physically hold myself together.

God.

It wasn’t a nightmare. I really saw my husband in another woman’s bed.

A soft knock sounds on the bedroom door before Claire peeks her head inside carefully.

“You awake?”

I swallow hard before sitting up slowly. “Yeah.”

Claire studies my face for a second before walking in with a mug of coffee in one hand and painkillers in the other.

“You look like hell.”

A weak laugh escapes me. “Thanks.”

“I mean it affectionately.”

I take the coffee gratefully, wrapping both hands around the warm mug. My throat burns painfully as I swallow the first sip.

Claire sits beside me on the bed quietly, neither of us speaks for a moment.

Then softly, she asks, “Do you still want the divorce papers drafted?”

The question shouldn’t hurt but it does.

Because somewhere deep inside me, some pathetic broken part still wishes Ethan would call and say it was all a mistake.

That he loves me, that he’s sorry and that he’ll fix this.

I hate myself for that.

I stare down into my coffee. “Yes.”

Claire nods once. “Okay.”

No judgment, no pushing.

That’s why she’s been my best friend since college.

“I’ll have the papers ready soon,” she says carefully. “But Amelia… you need to prepare yourself. Ethan isn’t the kind of man who lets go easily.”

My jaw tightens.

Funny.

He had no problem letting go when another woman spread her legs for him.

I push the thought away before it destroys me all over aagin.

“I don’t care what he wants anymore.”

The lie tastes bitter in my mouth because I do care.

That’s the worst part…..i still love him.

Even after what he did.

Claire reaches over and squeezes my hand gently. “You’re stronger than you think.”

Am I? Cause right now I feel hollow, like someone scooped everything out of me and left nothing behind.

My phone buzzes suddenly on the bedside table.

Ethan.

My stomach twists violently.

Claire sees the name and mutters, “That asshole has some nerve.”

The phone keeps vibrating. Again and again.

Finally, with shaky fingers, I answer.

“What?”

Ethan exhales softly. “Thank God you answered, I was getting worried.”

Something about the relief in his voice makes anger spark through my grief.

“You cheated on me,” I say flatly. “Why exactly are you acting worried?”

“Where are you?”

“None of your business.”

“Amelia….”

“No.” My voice sharpens instantly. “You don’t get to say my name like nothing happened.”

Another silence stretches between us.

Then he says quietly, “Come home so we can talk.”

Home.

The word nearly makes me laugh.

“There is no home for us anymore.”

“You’re overreacting.”

The rage that explodes inside me is so intense it almost steadies me.

Overreacting.

Again.

Like catching your husband naked with another woman is some small misunderstanding.

I stand abruptly from the bed and walk toward the window, my chest rising unevenly.

“You know what’s crazy?” I whisper. “I actually spent last night wondering if somehow this was my fault.”

“Amelia…..”

“But then I realized something.” My voice crackss slightly. “You betrayed me because you wanted to. Not because I wasn’t enough.”

Ethan goes quiet. For the first time since this started, he doesn’t have an excuse ready.

Good.

“I’ll send someone to pick you up,” he says eventually.

I almost laugh. Look at him still trying to control everything.

“I’m not coming back.”

“Yes, you are.”