Chapter 1

I slid the deed across the table to Asher Terrell. Crystal Hayden's name on the paper was glaring.

Asher's face drained of color. His hand reached for the paper, an instinctive move to hide the truth, but it froze mid-air.

"Tabitha, I can explain," he stammered, his voice raw.

His eyes reddened with the familiar look of remorse he'd used to soften me before. His vulnerable expression could always melt me, but not today.

"I'm listening," I replied, lifting my mug of water to my lips.

He stared, a flicker of unease crossing his features. My composure seemed to throw him off balance.

"Crystal... has had a rough time," he stammered. "You know how it was back then. My parents despised her and forced us apart. She spiraled into severe depression and had to drop out of college. She lost everything."

He swallowed, continuing, "This house is my way of making things right. It's a debt I owe her."

I nodded, my face unreadable. "I see. But what about the debt you owe me?"

He blinked, caught off guard, as if the question hadn't crossed his mind. I looked away, unlocking my phone and scrolling to an old album.

A photo was loaded, showing our cramped basement. A battered folding table dominated the frame, smothered under a pile of debt notices. In the corner, Asher was hollow-cheeked, his eyes sunken with despair.

"You've paid her debt," I pressed. "How will you settle those to me?"

His gaze locked on the image, and he flinched, the memory of our shared hardship crashing over him.

To clear his family's staggering debts, I had quit my stable job and worked three grueling shifts a day. For three years, I survived on less than four hours of sleep.

Once, a fever nearly broke me, but with no money for a doctor, I buried myself in blankets, sweating through the delirium, narrowly escaping pneumonia.

Asher had held me then, sobbing, promising a real home, vowing I'd never suffer again. He'd kept half that promise.

He rose from the ashes and became a new titan in the business world. He gave me a home, but it belonged to another woman.

"I owe you the most," he whispered, guilt swirling in his eyes. "Crystal and I are history. You're the one I love, my only wife. I'll spend the rest of my life making this right, I swear."

He reached for my hand, his voice pleading. "Crystal lost me long ago. She can't lose everything else. This house closes that chapter."

I pulled back, my fingers curling away from his touch. "Alright, I understand."

He exhaled, mistaking my restraint for acceptance. Beneath the table, my fingers tapped out a text to my lawyer. I asked her to draft the divorce agreement.