3. No divorce

The words Alex had sent in her phone felt like handcuffs tightening around Caro's chest.

'There is no divorce. You belong to me.'

Just like that! Possessive.

The words weren’t born from confusion or desperation. They came from certainty, from a man who never questioned his right to control.

She scrolled up and read the line again, just above it. "I won’t give you what you asked for."

Caro’s lips trembled. Not because she was shocked anymore but because those words struck a darker truth: he didn’t see her as a person. Not a woman, not a wife, not a mother. Just something he owned. A fixture in his home. A name on his lease. Someone to clean, feed, keep quiet, and stay.

She swallowed hard and tossed the phone to the foot of the bed, where the photos still lay like pieces of a life she no longer wanted to remember.

And then, just as she inhaled to steady herself, a sound echoed. The distant whirr of iron wheels dragging over tile.

Her stomach dropped.

Henry.

He was coming.

Caro quickly wiped her face with trembling fingers, pushed the photos under a blanket, and sat up straighter. She didn’t want him to see her like this. Not when his little world was already fragile enough.

The door creaked open gently. “ Mom?”

Henry wheeled himself halfway into the room, small hands pressing against the wheels of the chair. His expression was hesitant, unsure.

Caro forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “ Hi, baby. Shouldn’t you be playing?” “ I was,” he murmured, glancing at the floor. “ But... Daddy said something.”

Caro felt a tension rise in her spine. “What did he say sweetie?”

Henry looked up at her with certainty, earnest eyes. “ Don't call me that, you’ re a horrible person.”

The words hit her like a slap. She blinked. “What?”

“ He said... you’ re trying to leave me. To leave us.” His voice cracked. " you’ re a betrayal, after all the love you've shown me, you're finally abandoning me after all."

Caro’s throat went dry, her eyes widened. How could Alex say those things to a child?

Henry’s expression twisted into something sad and afraid. “Why would you want to leave me? Am I a problem to you mummy?” A thousand needles pricked at her chest at once.

She moved quickly, kneeling beside the wheelchair, bringing her face to his level. Her hands cradled his small ones.

“ Listen to me,” she said, soft but firm. “ Never—ever say that again. I am not a  horrible person and I would never lea...leve you.” Caro's voice trembling.

His eyes shimmered with tears. “ But Daddy said —”

“ I don’t care what Daddy said.” Her voice cracked. “Sometimes people say things because they’ re angry, or they want to hurt others. That doesn’t make it true.”

Henry blinked. He was processing, confused. Caught in the web of adult pain and weaponized love.

“ But... you were crying,” he said. “You and Daddy were yelling.” Caro felt the tears burn again and tightened her lips.

She nodded slowly. “Yes. We had a fight. Grown-ups sometimes fight. But no matter what happens between me and your father, you are not the reason. You are the best part of this house. The best part of my whole life.”

He leaned into her, and she wrapped her arms around him. His small body was warm, fragile, still innocent. And yet he was already being pulled into the toxicity that had grown roots all over this house.

She rested her chin on his shoulder, holding back sobs.

His next words sliced through the fragile moment like glass. “ Dad said you don’t love us anymore.”

Caro’s body stiffened. “What?”

“ He said... you’ re selfish. That you only care about yourself. That you’ re pretending to be good but really... you’ re just trying to escape.”

She pulled back, stared into her son’s eyes. “ Henry,” she said slowly. “ Look at me.”

He looked.

“ I love you that I can barely breathe. Do you understand that?” He nodded slowly, but his eyes were still uncertain.

“ I’m not pretending. I’m not escaping. I’m trying to protect you. And myself. Because sometimes, when people get hurt too many times, they have to make hard choices.”

He stared at her for a long moment and didn't say more.

Caro brushed his hair back gently, like she had a thousand times before.

“ I’ve been here every day for you,” she said softly. “ I’ve fed you, held you, bathed you, prayed over you. I chose you and I stayed because I love you.”

Henry sniffled and nodded, wrapping his arms around her neck. “ I don’t want you to go.”

“ I’m not going,” she whispered, even though part of her knew it might one day be a lie. Not right now maybe.

A sound broke their moment, slow claps. She turned sharply.

Alex.

Standing in the doorway. Watching all these while. He knew he could use that to pull her down.

“ Beautiful performance,” he said dryly. “You should’ve gone into acting instead of home-making. Might’ve actually earned something.”

Caro stood, shielding Henry instinctively with her body. “ Don’t you dare do that again.” Alex raised an eyebrow. “ Do what? Correct lies?”

“You poisoned his mind.”

“ I told him the truth,” he snapped. “You’ re packing your bags and making declarations. You want to rip this house apart, but I’m the monster for warning my own son?”

“ He’s not your messenger,” she said coldly. “ He’s not your toy.”

Alex stepped forward, eyes narrowed. “ He’s my son. You’d be nothing without him. Without me.” She didn’t reply.

Because deep down, she knew it wasn’t true. She was everything despite him.

Alex looked down at Henry. “You see what I mean now, son? She’s not the woman you thought she was.”

Henry looked between them, confused and overwhelmed. “Why are you being mean to Mommy?”

Alex’s jaw tightened. But Caro was already wheeling Henry back toward the door, whispering, “Go to your room, sweetheart. Mommy just needs a minute.”

Henry nodded, still frowning, and rolled away slowly.

When the hallway was quiet again, Caro turned back to Alex. Her face was stone.

“ I’ve trained that child for five years. Loved him like he was my own. You think saying ‘mine’ makes you a parent? No. You use him. You feed him your bitterness and call it love.”

Alex chuckled, low and smug. “You’ re emotional again. Quit from that act, It’s unattractive.”

Caro’s lips parted, but nothing came out for a second. Her chest ached from holding so much in. She looked around the room—the closet where she kept their folded dreams. The pictures on the wall. The ring on her finger that meant nothing now.

Tears clouded her chest. Not falling but pressing. Weighing, begging to be released. And in that moment, she realized something horrifying:

She needed someone to pull her out of this house.

Because if she stayed, she would not survive—not emotionally, not mentally. But leaving meant leaving Henry behind.

That was the wound. That was the trap.

Alex saw her hesitate. Then he smiled because he knew she’d stay and cancel those plans.

And that smile made her want to scream. She'd make a perfect plan to leave Alex entirely in a way that it wouldn't affect her son Henry. 

Alex laughed mockingly walking away.

A car horn pulled in and stopped outside the building. Caro looked through her window and saw a flashy black SUV.  A woman stepped down. She's beautiful, wore flashy shoes, pink dress, sunglasses worn and hair flown across her shoulder.

She walked fearlessly like she owned the world.

Bella.

What? In her house?