Chapter 2

ESSIE

I stood there, hands pressed against my chest as though I could stop my heart from breaking apart.

Leo exhaled slowly, his gaze flickering between Bella and me. For the briefest second, uncertainty crossed his face before irritation settled back into place.

He turned to Bella, his voice softening in a way it never did for me anymore.

“Bella, calm down. We’ll tell her when we get home. Not here. Not in the office.”

What? When we get home?

Bella’s lips curled with disgust. “Why wait? She already interrupted us,” She paused, straightening her hair. “Just tell her so she can stop standing there with that pathetic cake and those desperate eyes.”

My grip tightened around the crushed cake box.

Leo touched Bella’s arm gently. “Trust me. We will handle it properly at home. Go wait in the car. I will be there in a minute.”

Bella didn’t move. She folded her arms and stared at me with sharp, impatient eyes, clearly unwilling to miss a second of my humiliation.

I stood frozen between them, feeling like an intruder in my own husband’s life.

“Leo…” My voice trembled. “Please tell me what’s going on.”

The tears burning behind my eyes blurred my vision. “I came here because I wanted tonight to be special,” I said as I choked on my spit, then continued. “If something is wrong, we can fix it. We always fix things.”

Leo finally looked at me fully, his expression calm but distant.

“Essie, go home. We’ll talk when I get there. Bella and I will come after.”

The words hit harder than they should have. Bella and I.

Bella stood watching…Her posture was poised and confident, and there was a natural charm about her that drew attention without effort.

Combined with her sun kissed blonde hair and graceful dress.

My chest tightened painfully. I had given this man everything. My independence. My pride. The parts of myself that once burned brightly.

Little by little, I had softened myself into the kind of woman he wanted…quiet, accommodating, careful not to upset him. And now he stood beside another woman while dismissing me like I was the inconvenience.

Tears slipped down my cheeks despite my efforts to stop them.

“Please, Leo,” I whispered. “Don’t shut me out like this. I stayed beside you when nobody believed in you. We built everything together. Please… just come home with me. We can talk alone.”

Bella scoffed loudly but remained silent otherwise, her eyes glittering with amusement. Her eyes were strikingly beautiful, the kind that seemed to hold a story behind every glance. This must be the reason Leo chose her.

Leo’s jaw tightened. “Essie, I said go home. We’ll discuss this tonight.”

The tension in the room wrapped around my throat like smoke. I can’t believe this is happening to me. My knees nearly buckled beneath me, but I forced myself to stand straight.

Years of keeping the peace had taught me how to remain composed even when everything inside me was collapsing.

“Okay,” I said weakly, nodding through blurred vision. “I’ll go home. I’ll make tea, and we’ll talk properly.”

Leo stared at me as I whispered, “I still love you, Leo. Whatever this is… we can get through it.”

He gave a short nod, a brief dip of his head that was almost imperceptible. The movement was quick and controlled, suggesting acknowledgment rather than enthusiasm.

His eyes remained fixed on Bella, steady and unreadable, while his jaw tightened slightly as though he was weighing his thoughts carefully.

“Good. Go.”

I turned away on unsteady legs. The elevator ride down felt endless, the mirrored walls reflecting my tear streaked face and the chocolate stains smeared across my dress.

By the time I reached the parking lot, rain was pouring heavily from the sky. I sat behind the wheel for several minutes, unable to move.

My chest ached so badly it felt difficult to breathe. The image replayed in my mind over and over again.Leo bent over the desk.

Bella’s breathless laughter. The calm way he had zipped up his trousers and told me to go home. As though I had simply walked in at the wrong time.

I gripped the steering wheel harder.Maybe it was a mistake.

A horrible mistake, but still a mistake. People messed up. Marriages survived worse things, didn’t they? I clung desperately to that thought as I drove through the rain.

“Stay calm, Essie,” I whispered to myself shakily. “Don’t make things worse.”

That was who I had become during our marriage. The wife who swallowed her hurt before it became conflict. The woman who apologized first. The one who always stayed.

Tonight, I would wait for him in the living room with his favorite tea. We would talk. He would explain everything, apologize, and somehow we would find our way back to each other.

At least, that was what I kept telling myself. But Leo never came home.

I made his favorite meal and arranged the dining table carefully, checking the clock every few minutes while the food grew cold.

Midnight passed. Then one o’clock.Still nothing.

Eventually, exhaustion dragged me into an uneasy sleep at the dining table, my untouched plate sitting in front of me.

The next morning, voices echoed through the mansion as the front door opened. I jerked awake immediately. A woman’s laughter drifted through the hallway.

Bella.

My stomach twisted violently. After a few moments, the voices quieted. My legs felt weak as I walked slowly toward the sitting room.

Then I saw them.

Bella sat comfortably on Leo’s lap, one hand trailing lazily across his chest while he rested against the couch as though she belonged there.

Inside my home.

Inside our home.

Pain tore through me so suddenly I nearly stopped breathing. “Leo…” I called softly, my voice cracking.

Both of them looked up. Bella smiled first.

“Oh good,” she said brightly. “You’re awake. We have news for you.”