Divorced?

Chapter One

Eleanor's POV

An envelope was sitting right beside my mascara case. I simply stared at the envelope on my dressing table, unable to understand why Adrian had thrown it there with so much anger.

I had been waiting for him all day, watching the hours crawl by while I got ready for our anniversary dinner, and the last thing I expected when he finally walked into our bedroom was for him to slam an envelope in front of me.

He even wasted our time for goodness sake.

I slowly placed my mascara down and looked at him through the mirror.

He stood a few feet behind me, his jaw clenched and his expression hard. He had been distant for almost a year, and I have been there hoping he was going to change but he looked really angry tonight.

“What is this about?” I asked, turning slightly in my chair.

“Open it and see for yourself.”

His voice was colder than usual.

I looked at the envelope again before picking it up. “You could at least tell me what's going on, Adrian. I've been waiting for you all day. You knew tonight was important to me and to the both of us.”

“I know what tonight is.” The casual way he said it made my stomach churn, "and I don't think it'll be important after reading the content of that document."

I opened the envelope and pulled out the papers inside. My eyes moved over the first page until two words caught my attention.

Divorce Agreement.

My fingers went numb, and I refused to pull everything out.

I stared at the words for another second, convinced that I had somehow read them incorrectly. When I looked at him again, he was watching me without a trace of hesitation. he had signed it already.

“This isn't funny. What do you think you are trying to do?”

“I didn't say it was.”

I dropped the papers onto the table as though they had burned me. “Then what exactly is this? Why are you giving me divorce papers on our anniversary?”

“I need you to sign them.”

He placed a pen beside the papers.

I stood slowly, pushing my chair back beneath the dressing table. “No. I'm not signing anything until you tell me what happened. You don't get to walk into this room after being absent from my life for months, throw divorce papers at me, and expect me to sign them without even giving me a reason.” I shouted, my fist clenched at both sides.

“You want a reason?”

“Yes, Adrian. I want a reason.” I replied to him sternly, swallowing the saliva left in my mouth.

He let out a humorless laugh and ran a hand through his hair. For a moment, he looked away from me, almost as though he were trying to control himself before speaking. Then he looked directly at me, his eyes boring right into mine and he didn't blink.

“You want to know what you did? You cheated on me.” he uttered, the words hit me so hard that I almost laughed from disbelief.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“I didn't cheat on you.”

“You expect me to believe that? At first, I was thinking things were going to be better between us, but at this moment we can't revive this shit.”

“I expect you to tell me why you're accusing me of something like this.” My voice rose as the shock turned into anger. “You've barely spoken to me for months, Ethan. You come home when you want something, you disappear again, and whenever I ask what's wrong, you tell me you're tired. Now you're standing here accusing me of cheating as though I've been secretly living another life?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. I watched him scroll through his gallery until he found whatever he had been looking for. When he finally turned the screen toward me, I stepped closer.

What? I immediately grabbed the phone from him while I tried to take a clear look of what I was staring at right now.

It was a picture of me with the man I had met a few weeks earlier.

The NBA player I had been trying to convince to hire me for the interior design of his new property.

In the photograph, he was standing far too close to me, one hand over my head while our faces appeared dangerously close together. From that angle, anyone looking at the picture could easily believe we had been about to kiss.

My lips parted.

“That isn't what happened.”

Adrian took the phone back from me. “Then what exactly am I supposed to think when I see this?”

“Ask me the truth?” Tears began to gather in my eyes. “You haven't asked me anything. You stopped talking to me long before you ever saw this picture. I've been trying to understand what changed between us for almost a year, and every time I tried to get you to talk to me, you shut me out.”

I wiped the tears that had escaped down my cheek and forced myself to continue. “That night, I was meeting him because I wanted the interior design project. Stacy was the one who introduced us, and I thought it was a good opportunity for me. I went there to discuss the project, Ethan. That's all.”

He shook his head, like he didn't believe me.

“I called you immediately after it happened. I called you again the next morning, and I kept trying for days, but you never answered me. Do you remember that? You weren't even at home. I was seeing articles of you and stacy together.”

His jaw tightened.

I lowered my gaze, my fingers curling tightly against my palms as the memory came rushing back.

I had gone there expecting to discuss an interior design project. I had been excited about it because I had worked hard to build my career on my own, and securing a client like him could have opened so many doors for me. I never expected the meeting to turn into something else.

He had cornered me and I had fought him. I tried to get away and when I finally managed to leave, humiliated and shaking, the first person I thought of was Adrian.

My husband.The person I believed would come if I called, but he wasn't there for me..

“I was assaulted that night,” I whispered.

I noticed the change in his expression.

I looked up at him, tears running freely down my face. “I wasn't kissing him. I was trying to get away from him. That picture was taken in the middle of it, and whoever sent it to you made sure you only saw the part that would make me look guilty.”

He stared at me.

“You're lying."

"I've seen a lot of articles about you and stacy together looking more intimate than that, but I have never assumed you two have something together."

I stood there for a moment, waiting for him to say something else, anything that would tell me he had heard me. But he only picked up the divorce papers and held them toward me.

“Sign them.”

I stared at the papers in his hand.

“After everything I just told you?”

"I don't care if you did this or not, I just want a divorce. I've fallen out of love for you and that's completely normal."

So this wasn't really about the picture. He just used it as an excuse.

My heart sank for the third time this night.

He turned toward the door walking right out of me.

I followed him, refusing to let the conversation end like this. “You can't just walk away after saying all of that. If you really believe I cheated, then at least tell me who sent you the picture. Let me explain everything properly.”

He didn't stop walking.

“Because I know that picture was taken by someone who knew exactly what they were doing.”

His expression changed slightly.

I thought about the only person who immediately came to mind.

Stacy.

She had introduced me to the client. She had insisted that I meet him because she said he was looking for someone to handle the interior design of his new place. She had even encouraged me when I told her I was nervous about taking on such a big client.

Stacy had also been Adrian's childhood friend.

She had loved him long before I came into his life, and even after our marriage, I had never been completely comfortable with the way she treated me.

Adrian's expression hardened again. “I'm not interested in playing detective with you.”

I followed him.

“Please, just listen to me. I love you so much and I believe we can still fix what we have.”

He didn't turn around, and I just kept on talking.

“If you go through with this, you'll regret it.”

He finally looked back at me. His eyes were red, and I realized that he had been crying too.

“Maybe I will,” he said quietly. “But at least I'll regret leaving instead of regretting staying.”

He turned away again.

I took another step toward him.

“Adrian—”

My foot slipped.

I reached for the railing, but my hand caught nothing.

My body lurched forward, and suddenly I was tumbling down the stairs.

Pain exploded through me as my body struck one step after another. I tried to grab onto something, anything, but everything moved too quickly. My head hit the floor, and for a moment, I couldn't hear anything except the ringing in my ears

Even though my eye sight was blurry, I watched as he walked away while my entire body ached in pain.