2. The Irony of Fate

Destiny POV

The portrait of my husband and me hanging on the wall of our apartment smiled at me, but in that moment, it felt like it was mocking me. Ronan Foley, my husband of five years, had just called to tell me to pack my bags and leave—that it was all over.

The phone slipped slowly from my hand as I stood frozen in shock, unable to process what was happening.

Over all these years, I’d imagined so many things—how my life would’ve been if I hadn’t met Ronan, or if I hadn’t chosen a different path when I chose him in that hospital, or worse, if the treatment had failed and Ronan had left this world, leaving me alone.

But never, not once, had I considered the possibility that he would want me out of his life.

What was this? Had my entire life been a lie all this time? Had I spent years living with a man I barely knew? Sharing my life with someone completely different from who I thought he was?

Suddenly, with a bitter taste in my mouth, nothing made sense anymore. That picture on the wall, this apartment I thought was our love nest, all those years of devotion and sacrifice—none of it mattered anymore. I nearly stumbled as a wave of estrangement washed over me.

“This… This can’t be real. He must be joking,” I mumbled, eyes closed, head bowed, hands gripping the nearby dresser. My body trembled with dizziness, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might stop.

It had to be a joke. Ronan was just messing with me!

My eyes landed on the keys, my temples throbbing. I grabbed them and, like a shadow, stormed through the apartment toward the elevator, my eyes blazing with primal ferocity.

I knew where my husband worked, and if he wanted to end things with me, he’d have to do it to my face—looking at the face he saw every morning when he woke up, the face that had been there from the start, through the happy and sad times, through every challenge, obstacle, and relapse.

Let him look at the face that had taken countless blows from life for him. Let him be man enough to look at me and reject me.

If you asked me how I got to the car in that moment, I wouldn’t know how to answer. Before I knew it, I was speeding down the street like a maniac, my thoughts racing, screaming.

“You need to pack your bags by tomorrow because I’ve already terminated the lease with the landlord,” he had said.

“Jules will reach out to you about signing the divorce papers.” So, he’d been planning this for a while? While I was busy worrying if he was taking his meds properly? My chest ached, as if Ronan had stabbed me right through the heart.

The Morgan & Associates was an elite law firm, so exclusive that only the best of the best could work there. You can imagine how thrilled Ronan was when he got recruited to join them.

He might’ve thought he was the cream of the crop for achieving what no mediocre lawyer could, but what Ronan didn’t know was that he only got into that firm because of me.

The truth was, Morgan & Associates belonged to my father, Lowell Morgan, a man filthy rich with power. Even though I’d fallen out with him, I still had my connections.

Since my husband always said it was his dream to join that firm, I pulled strings to make it happen. So, Ronan was even getting promotions there—did he think he didn’t need me anymore?

I got out of the car and stormed into the firm’s building. A party was in full swing on the rooftop terrace, executives sipping champagne while chatting to the sound of live, sophisticated music.

I pushed through them like a bullet, searching for the man I knew so well. I knew he was here—I could hear music and voices in the background during his call. I’d find him, no matter what.

“Excuse me, let me through!” I shoved anyone in my way until a voice stopped me.

“Destiny? What are you doing here?” It was Jules Reese, my husband’s friend and fellow lawyer. “Holy crap! You shouldn’t be here, okay?” He looked anxious—after all, he was the one supposed to deliver the divorce papers, right?

I took a step forward. “Where is he? Where’s my husband, Jules?” I demanded.

He raised his hands in surrender. “You need to calm down, Destiny. I’m really sorry. You definitely shouldn’t be here… Come on, let me take you home, please.” But I followed his gaze, which darted toward a dimly lit lounge area with sofas arranged in the shadows. I brushed past Jules and ran toward it, ignoring his desperate calls for me to stop.

Then I saw him.

There, sitting on one of the couches, with a blonde woman on his lap, kissing him like they were intimate.

My blood ran cold.

“Ronan…”

They both turned to look at me. It was his assistant, Andrea Watson. I’d always said he didn’t need such an attractive assistant, but he insisted their relationship was strictly professional. Did this look professional to him?

“Is this why you’re leaving me?” My voice came out broken.

Ronan gently slid the woman to the side of the couch and stood up calmly, not a trace of remorse on his face. “Come on, let’s talk somewhere else,” he said, reaching out to me.

“NO!” I slapped his hand away, my voice shrill. “Are you sleeping with her? Is she why you’re leaving me?”

“Pull yourself together, Destiny!” he hissed, grabbing my elbow. “You’re making a scene here. This is definitely not the place for this—”

But I cut him off, yanking my arm free from his grip. “Don’t touch me!” Fury burned in my eyes. I could tell people were staring and whispering, but I didn’t care anymore.

I turned my gaze to Ronan, the man who had vowed at the altar that I’d be his one and only. “So this is your game, Ronan Foley? Use me to climb out of the misery of your life and then toss me aside?”

He sighed. “Honestly.”

I glared at that despicable woman, sitting cross-legged with an air of superiority, sipping her champagne and looking at me with boredom. “Did you know he had cancer? He’s cured now, thank God. After years of struggle and persistence, we can say this man is in perfect health!” I smirked, dripping with irony.

“You realize this is completely unnecessary, right?” Today, the look he gave me was one of contempt.

“Why would it be? Don’t you want your mistress to know how much I sacrificed for you? How many sleepless nights, how many messes I cleaned up during your relapses—”

“You weren’t forced to do any of that!” he interrupted, raising his voice. So that’s what he had to say? That I hadn’t been forced to do any of it? “Look, I’m just trying to be happy and live my life, okay? Couples divorce every day—why should we be any different? Just accept it, and let’s end this amicably.”

“Sure,” I said, smiling. Sure, since he didn’t need me anymore. He was cured and had gotten a promotion, right? I bet the blonde Andrea here couldn’t pass up the chance. “Sure, why not?”

“Great,” he said. “I did think of you, okay? I’m not the monster you’re making me out to be. You’d see in the divorce agreement that you’d get a good amount of money, enough to start over.”

“Oh, really?” I couldn’t hold back and burst into loud, manic laughter. “You’re offering me money, like you’re paying me for my services? That’s hilarious.” The laughter wouldn’t stop.

“She’s lost it,” Andrea, my husband’s darling, muttered.

“Jules, please, can you get her out of here?” Ronan asked.

“Sure, please, come with me, Destiny,” Jules said, taking my arm and leading me away as I continued laughing uncontrollably.

It was so funny, wasn’t it? His cure and his rise to success were because of me, and he was offering me pocket change as compensation. How wonderful.

“You’d better not drive in the state you’re in,” Jules said as we reached the ground floor of Morgan & Associates, the night breeze brushing my face. “You’re still in shock from all this. I’m really sorry, okay…” he said, embarrassed, before disappearing back into the building.

I wasn’t laughing anymore. On the contrary, my face was expressionless. I wasn’t feeling anything, my mind blank as I tried to recognize myself.

It was like a curse, really—condemned to live a secret life because of the immense power my father held, something that had ruined my life because I could never be myself. And now, it had just destroyed the one thing I cared about: my marriage.

My feet moved, but I didn’t know where I was going. I just knew I had to keep moving—at least that hurt less. Then a car horn blared loudly before hitting me. I fell to the asphalt, defenseless, wishing I could die right there.

But strong arms caught me. “My God, are you okay?” A man’s face appeared in my vision, his dark eyes looking at me with concern, and something in those eyes comforted me.

At least I wouldn’t be completely alone in the moment of my death.