Two

After the events of the day, I knew I had to move fast. But I also knew I couldn’t afford chaos. My exit couldn’t be loud at least not yet.I had to let everything unfold naturally. This was not about immediate vengeance. This was about clarity. I needed distance. I needed to ascertain control.

I had no where else to go so I chose to stay in an hotel. The hotel I chose to stay was quiet, mid-range, and unremarkable. That was the point. I didn’t want luxury. I didn’t want familiarity. I wanted to disappear into stillness, to become another shadow in a room that smelled of someone else’s story. The walls of the room I was were pale beige. The furniture was stiff and square. The window overlooked a street with no name I recognized.

I sat by that window, knees folded, my mind unwinding without tears. I hadn’t a single drop a tear. Not on the drive, not when I shut the door behind me, not when I sat alone in that room and heard my own breath for the first time in hours. I was proud of myself for that. I didn’t let them affect me.

That was when I decided to pick up my phone to call my mother.

I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because I needed to hear her voice. Maybe I wanted to see if this time would be different. Some part of me, no matter how hardened, still wanted to believe that a mother could put her daughter first.

I tapped her name. The call rang three times before she answered.

“Noelle?” Her voice held that same clipped edge it always did. Not warmth. Not even curiosity. Just inconvenience.

“I just left the house,” I said quietly. “I walked in on Roman and Alessia. Together.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

Then came the sigh. That familiar, disappointed breath that had always meant I had made her life difficult again.

“Noelle,” she said slowly, “Alessia has been through a lot. You know that. She didn’t grow up with the stability you did. She needed support.”

“And that gives her the right to sleep with my husband?” I asked. My voice was low. Controlled.

“She’s your sister in every way that matters,” my mother said. “We took her in. She was broken. And Roman… well, men have needs. You’ve been so busy, so driven.”

I felt the cold settle deeper into my chest.

“You’re blaming me,” I said. “You’re actually blaming me.”

“I’m saying don’t act rashly. Don’t do something you’ll regret. Think about the company. Think about your future. Public drama will only make things worse.”

Not once did she ask if I was okay.

Not once did she say what they did was wrong.

“I just needed to hear it for myself,” I said. “That you were never on my side.”

Her tone didn’t change. “Don’t make this a bigger mess than it needs to be.”

I ended the call without saying goodbye.

I should have known better. She would never pick me, never be on my side.

I turned the phone face down on the nightstand and stared out the window again. For a long time, I didn’t move. The city lights below blinked like a signal I didn’t understand. But inside me, something began to click into place.

I stood, walked to the small desk across the room, and opened my laptop. The glow from the screen reflected back at me like a quiet challenge. My fingers hovered only a moment before typing.

To: Westlake & Rhames LLP

Subject: Divorce Filing

Effective immediately, I am requesting the initiation of divorce proceedings between myself and Roman Vale. Please proceed quietly. There should be no media involvement. No communication with Mr. Vale’s team until full legal protections are in place.

I attached the documents I had quietly prepared a month ago. The hunch had been there, sharp and nagging. He had been coming home late, acting distant. He had started smelling like perfume that wasn’t mine. I didn’t want to believe it then. Now I had no choice.

I could have removed him from the company right then. But I didn’t. I’ll let them believe I am broken. Leave them to grow bold.

I opened another tab. Composed an encrypted message to Mara.

To: M. Chen

Subject: Temporary Oversight

Mara, effective immediately I am stepping away from public operations. You are to maintain all current projects and report only to me via our secure channel. Do not alert Roman or Alessia. Do not reveal my location. You are the firewall now.

Mara would understand. She had been with me since the beginning. Since the sketches on napkins and late-night pitch decks. She had seen how much I built. And she would not let it fall.

When that was done, I pulled the burner phone from my bag. The one Julian gave me. I had kept it hidden for over a year, just in case the world turned sideways.

I tapped his number.

He answered instantly.

“Noelle.”

“It’s time,” I said.

“You’ve filed?”

“Yes. Quietly.”

“You’re not pulling him out of the company?”

“No,” I said. “Not yet.”

“Letting him make the first move?”

“Yes.”

There was a pause. “We’ll start the transition. I’ll send the new identity routing. You’ll travel as Juliana Cross.”

I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “No trace back.”

“I’ll make sure of it. When do you want to leave?”

“Tonight.”

“I’ll handle everything.”

We ended the call.

I walked to the trash bin and dropped the wedding ring into it. Next to it, the roses. The ones meant to celebrate love. Now they marked the grave of it.

Before I left the room, I tore a piece of stationery from the hotel drawer and wrote one line.

They thought I would break. They should have worried I’d rebuild.

Then I zipped my bag, stepped out of the room, and into the beginning of a storm no one saw coming.