Chapter 3

Sienna arrived at the hospital with her hair a mess and her handbag hanging from one shoulder.

The moment she saw me in bed, her face crumpled.

“Elena…”

She hurried to my side and took my hand, careful of the needle taped to it.

“What happened to you?”

I looked at Ethan.

He stood near the window, his face drawn with exhaustion.

I picked up the notepad beside my bed and wrote three words.

Adrian chose Victoria.

Sienna read them.

For a moment, she said nothing. Then she looked at Ethan.

“He chose that woman and left Elena behind?”

Ethan's jaw tightened. “That's what happened.”

Sienna let out a sharp, disbelieving laugh.

“Oh, I swear to God, I could kill that man.”

“Sienna,” Ethan warned quietly.

“No! Don't Sienna me!” She threw her free hand into the air. “His wife was kidnapped. She nearly died trying to escape, and he chose another woman in front of her!”

Her voice shook with anger.

“And where is he now? Where is the man who stood in front of a priest and called himself her husband?”

I lowered my eyes.

I didn't want her to defend me because of what Adrian had done. I didn't want to watch someone else become angry over a man I had spent three years making excuses for.

Sienna turned back to me.

“I'm sorry, baby.”

She brushed the hair away from my forehead.

“You don't have to apologize for him,” she said. “You hear me? Not anymore.”

My eyes filled.

She had no idea how badly I needed to hear those words.

Then she noticed my wedding ring.

Her expression changed.

“Are you still wearing this?”

I stared at the thin band on my finger.

I had worn it through lonely nights, forgotten anniversaries, and every humiliation I had swallowed because I believed Adrian would eventually love me.

Now, even looking at it made my chest hurt.

I pulled it off.

Sienna watched me place it on the bedside table.

“Good,” she whispered. “Let that be the last thing he takes from you.”

I reached for my notepad.

I want a divorce.

She read the words twice.

Then she nodded, her eyes shining with fierce determination.

“Then you're getting one. And when you leave this hospital, you're coming home with me. He can keep his mansion, his money, and that woman he can't seem to live without.”

She squeezed my hand.

“But first, you need to get better. I'll handle everything else.”

A knock sounded at the door.

A nurse stepped inside, carrying a small envelope.

“Mrs. Blackwood?”

I looked up.

“Your husband sent someone to deliver this.”

Sienna's face went still.

“My husband?” she repeated.

The nurse nodded and placed the envelope on my blanket.

I opened it with trembling fingers.

Inside was a single sheet of paper.

Not a letter asking if I was alive.

Not an apology.

Not even a question about why I had fallen from a building.

It was a message from Adrian's lawyer.

**Mrs. Blackwood, Mr. Blackwood requests that you return home as soon as you are discharged. There are matters concerning your marriage that require your attention.**

I read it again.

Then I looked at the empty space beside my bed, where my husband should have been.

He knew I was in the hospital.

He knew I had nearly died.

And he couldn't even be bothered to come himself.

Sienna snatched the paper from my hand. Her eyes moved over the words, and her face reddened.

“Matters concerning your marriage?” she said, her voice rising. “Is that all you are to him? A problem his lawyer can handle?”

She crumpled the letter in her fist.

“Let him come here and say that to your face. I dare him!”

I reached for her hand before she could storm out.

She stopped, breathing hard, and looked down at me.

I picked up my pen.

Then I wrote the words I had been too afraid to write for three years.

**Tell him I'll be home soon.**

Sienna frowned at the note.

“Elena, why would you go back there?”

I turned my wedding ring over in my palm.

Because there was something I needed to do before I left that house forever.

I wrote one more sentence.

**I want him to look me in the eyes when I end this marriage.**