Chapter 3: The Last Morning

Seraphina barely slept.

The hotel room was quiet.

Too quiet.

She lay awake staring at the ceiling until sunrise, replaying the same conversation over and over again.

"I married Seraphina because she was safe."

"She'll never leave."

"A divorce would destroy too much."

She had spent years wondering what she had done wrong.

Now she knew.

Nothing.

She had simply loved someone who saw love as convenience.

Her phone buzzed.

Margaret Collins.

"I'm outside," her lawyer said.

"I'll be down."

************

Margaret Collins was exactly as Seraphina remembered her.

Calm.

Sharp.

Impossible to intimidate.

She stood beside her black sedan, holding two takeaway coffees.

"You look terrible," Margaret said as Seraphina approached.

"I didn't sleep."

"I expected as much."

They got into the car.

For a few moments neither of them spoke.

Margaret handed her one of the coffees.

"Tell me everything."

Seraphina did.

She started with the necklace.

Then Lydia.

Then the corridor.

Then every word she had heard.

Margaret listened without interrupting.

When Seraphina finished, Margaret looked out through the windshield for a long moment.

Finally, she spoke.

"Do you want revenge?"

Seraphina looked at her.

"No."

"Good."

Margaret nodded.

"Revenge makes people careless."

"I just want out."

"That's a much better reason."

Margaret opened her briefcase and pulled out a folder.

"I prepared the divorce petition before I came."

Seraphina looked surprised.

"You work fast."

"You called me at ten thirty last night asking for a divorce."

Margaret smiled faintly.

"I believed you."

She opened the folder.

"Everything starts once you sign."

Seraphina stared at the papers.

Eight years.

Reduced to a stack of documents.

Margaret noticed her hesitation.

"You don't have to do this today."

Seraphina picked up the pen.

"No."

She signed her name.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

She placed the pen down.

"There."

Margaret closed the file.

"I'll have him served today."

Seraphina nodded.

Then she looked out the window.

"I need to go home."

********

The apartment looked exactly the same.

The same paintings.

The same flowers.

The same silence.

Only she had changed.

She unlocked the door and stepped inside.

"Evan?"

No answer.

She was relieved.

She carried a suitcase into the bedroom and placed it on the bed.

Then she opened the wardrobe.

She reached for her clothes.

One by one.

Nothing dramatic.

Nothing rushed.

Just...

Finished.

She folded each dress neatly.

Placed it inside.

Collected her documents.

Her passport.

Birth certificate.

Bank records.

Her mother's photograph.

The watch her father had given her on her graduation day.

She was reaching for another drawer when she heard footsteps behind her.

"You finally came home."

She didn't turn around.

"I came for my things."

The room became quiet.

Evan stood in the doorway.

He looked exhausted.

His shirt was creased.

His tie was gone.

His eyes were bloodshot.

He had clearly not slept either.

"I've been calling you."

"I know."

"You ignored every call."

"Yes."

He walked into the room.

"Where did you spend the night?"

She continued folding clothes.

"Does it matter?"

"It does to me."

She almost smiled.

"Interesting."

"What does that mean?"

She zipped one side of the suitcase.

"It means you're asking questions you never cared to ask before."

His jaw tightened.

"Sera—"

"My name is Seraphina."

He stopped.

She finally looked at him.

"You only call me Sera when you're trying to soften me."

"I'm trying to talk to my wife."

She held his gaze.

"No."

"I'm talking to the man who cheated on me."

His face changed.

Only for a second.

Then it disappeared.

"I knew this was about last night."

"It's about the last three months."

"The last year."

"The last eight years."

"You misunderstood what you saw."

"I heard you."

Silence.

"I heard everything."

His shoulders stiffened.

"You were listening?"

"I wasn't supposed to?"

He sighed heavily.

"You took it out of context."

She laughed.

It wasn't a happy laugh.

"What context makes 'I married her because she was safe' sound better?"

He didn't answer.

"What context makes 'She'll never leave' romantic?"

Still nothing.

She nodded slowly.

"That's what I thought."

He stepped closer.

"Lydia means nothing."

She stared at him.

"You gave her my mother's necklace."

"I can explain."

"I don't want you to."

"It isn't what you think."

She looked at him for a long moment.

"You know what's funny?"

"What?"

"If you had just admitted the affair..."

He frowned.

"...I might have believed there was at least some honesty left in you."

"I am being honest."

"No."

She shook her head.

"You're managing damage."

His expression hardened.

"So that's it?"

"What?"

"Eight years."

"You throw them away because of one mistake?"

She looked at him quietly.

Then she spoke.

"No."

"You threw them away."

"You just didn't notice when it happened."

For the first time...

Evan had no answer.

He ran a hand through his hair.

"I'll end it."

She didn't react.

"I'll never see Lydia again."

Nothing.

"I'll fire her."

Still nothing.

"I'll do whatever you want."

She looked at him with an expression he had never seen before.

Not anger.

Not sadness.

Acceptance.

"You still don't understand."

"What?"

"This stopped being about Lydia yesterday."

He frowned.

"It became about us."

"There is no us."

"You ended that long before I found out."

He stared at her.

Almost desperately.

"We can fix this."

"No."

"We've survived difficult times before."

"No, Evan."

She picked up the divorce papers from the bedside table.

"I survived them."

"You simply expected me to."

She handed him the envelope.

He looked down.

His name was written across the front.

"What is this?"

"Open it."

He did.

His eyes scanned the first page.

Then the second.

His face slowly lost all color.

"You filed?"

"This morning."

He looked back at her in disbelief.

"You actually filed."

"Yes."

His voice rose for the first time.

"You didn't even talk to me first."

She almost laughed again.

"I've spent eight years trying to talk to you."

He took a step toward her.

"I'm not signing this."

"You don't have to."

"I'll fight it."

"I know."

"I won't let you destroy this family."

She looked at him calmly.

"You already did."

The room fell silent.

A knock came at the front door.

Both of them looked toward the hallway.

Another knock.

Evan frowned.

"Are you expecting someone?"

"No."

He walked toward the door.

A minute later she heard voices.

Then footsteps returning.

Evan appeared in the bedroom again.

His face had gone completely pale.

"What happened?" she asked.

He looked at her.

For the first time since she had met him...

He looked genuinely shaken.

"There are investigators downstairs."

He swallowed hard.

"They're asking questions about company accounts."

Seraphina said nothing.

She picked up her suitcase.

Walked past him.

And left him standing in the middle of the room, holding divorce papers in one hand... and the beginning of his collapse in the other.