Chapter 2

ALEXANDER’S POV

The moment Serena turned her back on me, something inside me felt amiss. I watched as she walked away, with her head held high, but I knew that she was hurting.

I should have stopped her. I should have said something, anything. But I sat there, and watched her leave in pain.

Her words kept on ringing in my mind: Maybe if my husband actually touched me, I would have given him a child.

I clenched my jaw, and my fingers tightened around the glass in front of me. She had said it like an accusation, like I had deliberately neglected her. But she didn’t understand.

Pristine’s hand touched my arm, she was trying to soothe me. “Don’t get worked up over anything she said. She was just being dramatic, Alex. You know how Serena gets.”

I exhaled slowly, trying to get the tension in my body to fade. This was the right choice. It had always been the right choice. Pristine was my first love, the woman I had always imagined a future with. I had married Serena out of need, out of necessity. I had never promised her love.

Still, I couldn’t shake the image of her face and her eyes that were filled with unshed tears, the raw pain in her voice when she had whispered; how long?

Why was I feeling guilty? Why did I feel like I wronged her?

Pristine sighed, tilting her head in concern. “She’ll be fine, Alex. She had to know this was coming. Stop ignoring me already, please.”

I wasn’t sure if she was reassuring me or herself.

The dinner no longer held any appeal. The wine tasted bitter on my tongue, and the room now felt like it was suffocating me. Whatever happened here tonight could end up in the news, so I quickly texted my assistant to find a way to make sure my name didn’t make the headlines a second time in one day.

I rubbed my temple, exhaustion creeping in. “I am having a headache, I should go.”

Pristine pouted, reaching for my hand. “Stay. You are bothered about what just happened but trust me, she will cool off eventually. Besides, do you really want to deal with that right now?”

That?

As if Serena’s pain was nothing more than an inconvenience.

I pulled my hand away, ignoring Pristine’s slight frown. “The driver will take you home and I’ll call you later.”

I didn’t wait for her response, I stood and left. When I got into the car, I drove off at once. My grip on the steering wheel was tight, and my mind was drowning with a lot of things.

I had thought Serena would cry. That she would make a scene, demand answers, beg me to stay but she had done none of those things.

Instead, she had raised a glass to us, and made a toast to the man who had betrayed her. And then she walked away, without so much as a backward glance.

I didn’t know why that unsettled me so much.

Pulling into the driveway, I stepped out of the car and entered the house. The moment I got in, the house felt so empty.

My eyes subconsciously turned to the dining table and that was when I saw all the preparations which were set for two. She had been waiting for me but I disappointed her.

I hurt her so much tonight, my guilt was increasing by each time I thought about it. I turned away from the sight, making my way upstairs.

The bedroom door was left wide open. Inside, the room was so silent. Serena’s side of the closet was open, and her clothes hung neatly in place. The vanity was still arranged the way she liked it, everything was in perfect order.

But she wasn’t here. I should have felt relieved. Instead, I felt very tender. A smell hit my nose, that of burnt papers and then I saw it.

There was a pile of ashes in the small metal tray near the window. I walked over to it and saw black fragments of paper that were burning, they were almost unrecognisable but I could tell what they were. Our wedding photos.

Serena had always been quiet in her pain, always swallowed her emotions instead of lashing out. But this was final, she was acting out on her anger, this could only mean one thing. She wasn’t just angry. She was done.

I should have been prepared for this. Hadn’t I been waiting for her to end it all? Hadn’t I wanted this marriage to end?

So why did I feel like I had lost something?

A sound from behind me drew my attention. I turned to see Serena standing in the doorway.

She wasn’t crying.

She wasn’t yelling.

She simply looked… empty.

Her voice was quiet, but firm. “I’ll send Sophia tomorrow to collect my things.”

I stared at her, waiting for the outburst that never came. “Serena?”

“There’s nothing left to say.”

She turned to leave, and for the first time, I was scared for her. I had expected a fight. A pleading wife. An argument.

Not this cold, detached goodbye and that terrified me more than anything else.

I watched as Serena turned away, walking away steadily, with her back rigid. My mind screamed at me to stop her, to say something that would put an end to all the torture, but my lips remained sealed.

I had pushed her to this point. Seconds later, the front door opened and then shut with a quiet thud.

And just like that, she was gone.

This should have been a relief. The clean break I had been waiting for. No screaming, no fighting, no drawn-out drama. Yet as I stood in the middle of our bedroom, I saw myself as the worst person in the world. I saw myself as a fool.

I turned my eyes back to the ashes in the metal tray and stepped forward, pressing down the remaining that were yet to be burnt.

But I saw a small, unburnt corner of a photograph peeking out from the ashes. I picked it up carefully, and my breath hitched when I recognized it.

Our wedding day.

Serena’s hand was in mine, her fingers curled around my own in a grip. And she had a full smile on her face. The one I had stolen from her after subjecting her to pain in this marriage. 

I let out a sharp breath, crushing the fragment between my fingers before tossing it back into the ashes. It shouldn’t matter. She made her choice already.

I shook my head, forcing myself to push away the thoughts overtaking my mind, my heart and my soul. This was what I had wanted. This was better for both of us.

So why did it feel like I had just lost something irreplaceable?

—

The next morning, I woke up to an empty house.

It was a strange feeling.

I had spent years barely noticing Serena’s presence, because I was always too preoccupied with work or with Pristine to acknowledge the woman who shared my home. But now, with her gone, I noticed everything.

By noon, a knock at the door pulled me from my thoughts. Sophia Everly stood on my doorstep, her arms crossed, she was staring at me with anger and I already knew that Serena had told her everything. 

“Hi Sophia,” I said flatly. “What do you want?”

She didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “I’m here to collect Serena’s things.”

Of course.

I stepped aside, allowing her to enter. She made her way up the stairs without hesitation while I followed, watching as she entered the bedroom and immediately began packing.

“Where is she?” I asked, my voice coming out rougher than I intended.

Sophia didn’t even turn to look at me. “Not your concern anymore.”

“What? It is my concern because she is still my wife.”

“For now,” she shot back.

I clenched my jaw. “Why do you seem happy that we are breaking up?”

She paused, turning to face me with a smirk. “Oh, I’m definitely enjoying this. I warned Serena about you. You are a narcissist, men like you don’t deserve her.”

I ignored her words, “Where is she staying?”

Sophia raised a brow. “Why? So you can run to her when Pristine inevitably disappoints you?”

My patience was running thin. “I just want to talk to her.”

“She doesn’t want to talk to you.”

The finality in her tone made my hands curl into fists. I wasn’t used to being dismissed but then again, I wasn’t used to Serena standing up for herself, either.

Sophia packed quickly, taking only the essentials. When she was finished, she turned to me with a smirk. “You’ll be hearing from her lawyer soon.”

With that, she walked past me. A bitter look settled on my face when the door closed behind her. This was it. 

That evening, Pristine called but I ignored the first three calls. She didn’t seem like she was going to give up, so I had to finally pick at the fourth.

“I was starting to think you were avoiding me,” she teased, her voice light, playful.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Not now, Pristine.”

She hesitated. “You sound… off.”

I didn’t respond.

She sighed. “Look, I know last night was a mess, but you knew this was going to happen eventually. Serena was never meant to be in your life permanently. She was just…”

She stopped herself, but I knew what she was going to say. She was just a placeholder.

The words left a sour taste in my mouth.

“I’ll talk to you later,” I muttered before hanging up.

The house became silent again, as usual. I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my temples. For the first time in years, I wasn’t sure I had made the right choice.