Evelyn’s POVI stood by the roadside, numb, shivering, the cold wind slicing through my thin sleeveless dress like knives. Everything felt unreal. My phone buzzed for the third time, his name flashing on the screen like a wound that wouldn’t stop bleeding.Louis.I turned the phone off. I couldn’t hear his voice again. Not now. Not when my head was spiraling.He played me. Like a damn fool.All these years, I thought I understood the man I married. I thought I was smart enough to trick him into signing the divorce papers, but maybe I gave him the wrong ones. Or maybe he tricked me instead. Either way, it didn’t matter anymore. We went to court, and it was chaos. His words that day echoed like thunder: “I’ll never divorce you.”Never. Why?What did he even want? One minute he was cold and distant, the next he was raging, asking about some other man, like he cared.Like I was his.But I wasn't sure anymore, was it hate? Possession?Was he trying to keep me because he loved me or because
Louis' POVThis didn’t make sense. None of it did.A virgin wife? My wife?The words kept playing over and over in my head like a broken record.I was in the car, trying to act unaffected, but my mind was a storm. Her voice still echoed in my ears from that call: "A virgin wife." Those exact words. They hit me like a punch to the gut. My brows furrowed, my hands clenched on my knees.I couldn’t stop staring at her. Those lips, plump, slightly parted, so pink they looked unreal. Her delicate neck, exposed slightly beneath her hair as she looked away from me. Could it really be possible? That no man had ever touched her? Not even Samuel?But she always said she’d been with him. She always made it sound like they’d done everything. So what was that? A lie? Was she trying to protect herself from me, or from something worse? Or had she… been waiting for me all this time? Through the arguments, the cold stares, the lonely nights, was she silently hoping I’d finally see her? Want her?I felt
Louis’s POV"Why did you say that?" I asked, pretending like I didn’t know what was going on. But deep down, I knew everything. I orchestrated it all, each step, each misstep, each silence. This was how it had to happen.She gave me a stack of papers, confident, maybe even relieved. Like handing them to me would erase the years we never got right. She thought I'd hesitate. She thought I’d read it line by line, argue, maybe plead. But no, I signed it without a blink. Not because I was ready to let her go. But because I saw it wasn't a divorce paper. Not entirely. It read more like a contract, something else entirely. Maybe she grabbed the wrong file. Maybe she meant to trick me. Maybe her desperation clouded her judgment.Still, I took it. Signed it. Locked eyes with her as the pen pressed down on the paper. I watched her flinch.And now here we were, standing in front of the lawyer, the room cold and overly white, like a surgical ward for broken hearts. The lawyer glanced between us,
Evelyn’s POVHe signed it.I watched in slow motion as he dragged the pen across the paper, each stroke echoing like a dagger to my chest. The ink looked too black, too final. It wasn’t just a signature, it was a goodbye written in cursive.He set the folder down and stared at me. Cold. Done. Just like that.“So what’s next?” he asked. His voice was rough, but empty. Like he’d already left me in his mind. “I’ve signed it. You’ve signed it. So what now?”My lips trembled.I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to grab the folder and rip it to shreds and throw it in his face. How dare you? After everything. After the years I stayed, silent, patient, waiting for the tiniest piece of your heart. You could have fought. You could have stopped me. You could have just tried.But he didn’t.He was just… done.I bit down hard on my lower lip, holding in the sob threatening to burst from my chest. I refused to let him see me cry again. Not now. Not when I’d finally found the courage to wa
Louis’ POVWhat the hell did I just do?The sharp scent of smoke lingered in the air, mixing with the deafening silence that followed the gunshot. My heart pounded like a war drum inside my chest. My eyes, wide and unfocused, slowly scanned the room.Then I saw it.The bullet hadn’t touched Erica.It hadn’t touched anyone.It had torn right through the wall… and into my painting.No. No, no, no…That damn painting.My feet moved before I could think. I rushed past the two women like they didn’t even exist. Erica flinched as I bolted forward, thinking I was running at her, but I wasn’t. I didn’t care about her. Not right now.I dropped to my knees in front of the canvas, lifting it off the wall like it was made of glass. My fingers trembled as I examined the hole ripped straight through the center of it, dead through the sunset sky.My chest tightened.My throat closed.This… this was the first gift Evelyn had ever given me. A painting she made herself, her hands stained with color for
Louis’ POV"You may be discharged now, Mr. Louis," the doctor said gently, her eyes lingering for a moment too long, probably trying to read the tight expression on my face.Discharged.The word hung in the air like some kind of liberation, but it felt hollow. I nodded wordlessly. Evelyn, my wife, was already at my side, her grip on my hand a little too tight, her movements quick and controlled, like she was trying to beat back a storm only she could see.She held me carefully, almost too tenderly, guiding me to the car parked right outside the hospital doors.Why was she acting like this?Why was the same woman who had been blackmailing me suddenly fussing over every step I took? Her hand trembled slightly against mine, but her face was calm, too calm. Mechanical. Almost like a performance. And I didn’t know what to make of it.Was it guilt? Fear? Or something deeper?All I knew was that something was off.I should’ve confronted her, right then and there. But my mind was spinning. Wo