CHAPTER ONE TITLE: Our Third Anniversary

Emma's POV

After waiting for hours, my husband finally showed up on the night of our third wedding anniversary, just to tell me he's leaving to pick Sophia Bennett from the airport.

I stared at him, wondering if I'd heard him wrongly.

The candlelight between us flickered, reflecting off the untouched dinner I’d spent all afternoon preparing. His favorite steak had already gone cold. The cake I had ordered sat in the center of the table, its three tiny candles still waiting to be lit.

"I'll make it up to you," he said, already straightening his jacket. "Sophia doesn't know New York well. She has no one else to pick her up."

‘No one else.’

The words hit me harder than they should have because I knew exactly who Sophia was.

His first love. The woman he had never truly gotten over. The woman he had once promised to marry before life pulled them apart. The woman Lucas had loved long before he met me—the one everyone believed should have become Mrs. Ashford.

For three years, I’d convinced myself she belonged to his past and that she no longer mattered. But hearing her name tonight made me realize I had only been lying to myself.

I forced a small smile, even though my heart was already breaking.

"Can't Henry pick her up instead?" I asked softly. "Or one of the drivers? You have a lot of people who can actually bring her here right?" 

Lucas shook his head. "It has to be me."

"But why?" I searched his face, hoping he'd give me a reason I could understand. "We've waited an entire year for tonight, Lucas."

My voice remained calm, but I could hear the quiet desperation beneath every word. "I planned all of this for us. I made your favorite dinner. I even ordered this cake weeks ago." 

I glanced toward the table before looking back at him. "Please... just stay. We can celebrate first, and then you can go if you still want to… after."

For a brief moment, guilt flashed across his face. He let out a slow breath and met my eyes, but there was no hesitation in his decision. "Emma, she asked for my assistance personally, I can't leave her waiting."

I lowered my gaze, trying to steady the ache spreading through my chest.

"It won't take long," he continued. "Like I said, I'll make it up to you when I get back."

I looked around the beautifully decorated room we hadn't even used. The candles were still burning, soft music drifted through the air, and the cake with ‘Happy Third Anniversary’ written across it sat untouched in the center of the table.

Just a few hours ago, I’d imagined us sitting across from each other, laughing over dinner, cutting the cake together, and pretending—if only for one night—that we were a normal married couple.

Instead, I was standing there, begging my own husband to stay for a dinner he no longer seemed interested.

Lucas glanced at his watch, then picked up his car keys from the table. "I really have to go," he said quietly.

Without waiting for a reply, he turned and started walking toward the door.

"Lucas." I called after him just before he reached it.

His hand paused on the doorknob, but he didn't spare me another glance.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I asked the question I’d never been brave enough to ask before. "Am I really that easy to leave behind?" 

Silence stretched between us.

Finally, he let out a quiet sigh. "I don't like you filling your head with these kinds of thoughts, Emma," he said without looking back. "You always see things from the wrong perspective."

He opened the door, stepped outside, and pulled it shut behind him.

I remained standing there, staring at the closed door, while the room that had been filled with so much hope only moments ago suddenly felt far too big for one person.

At some point, the restaurant staff quietly cleared away the untouched food, and I thanked them with a smile that fooled no one. By the time I returned to the Ashford mansion, it was well past midnight, and Lucas still hadn't come home.

………

The next morning, I was making coffee in the kitchen when I heard familiar voices near the entrance. Carrying two cups out of habit—one for me, one for Lucas—I stepped into the hallway and stopped in my tracks. Lucas stood by the front door with Sophia beside him. She looked elegant in a cream-colored coat, her beautiful smile bright enough to light up the entire room, while Lucas looked more relaxed than I’d seen him in months.

"I want you to have this," Lucas said as he reached into his pocket and placed a sleek black metal card in Sophia's hand. 

She looked at it in surprise before asking, "Lucas... isn't this only for family?" 

He smiled without the slightest pause. "You've always been family, Sophy."

The coffee cup almost slipped from my hands. 

Three years earlier, I had asked Lucas for that same access card after being locked outside the estate during a storm, but he had refused without hesitation. “Only real family members carry this card, Emma,” he had told me. 

I believed him back then. Standing here now, watching him hand it so easily to another woman, I finally realized the card had never been the problem.

Sophia looked up and noticed me standing there. A sweet smile spread across her face as she walked over. 

"You must be Emma," she said warmly. "Thank you for taking such good care of Lucas all these years." 

Her words sounded kind, but the way her fingers tightened around the black card made my chest ache. I waited for Lucas to say something—to remind her that I was his wife—but he remained silent.

Unable to bear another second, I placed the untouched coffee on the nearest table and quietly walked toward the back garden, perhaps leaving Sophia stunned by how completely I'd snubbed her.

My eyes burned with unshed tears, but I refused to let them fall. Reaching the poolside, I stood there, staring blankly at the still water, trying to calm myself.

A few minutes later, laughter drifted from behind me. I turned sharply to see Lucas and Sophia walking side by side, completely absorbed in their conversation. Gathering the last bit of courage I had left, I slowly walked toward them until I stood only a few feet away. 

Both of them paused, staring at me. I didn't spare Sophia a single glance. My eyes stayed fixed on Lucas, refusing to acknowledge a

nyone else.

"Lucas," I said quietly, my voice barely above a whisper. "We need to talk.”