Chapter 9

Chapter 9

She climbed out of the car and closed the door, watching as the sedan pulled away into the night. Then she turned and boarded the waiting bus, her mind already racing ahead to what needed to be done.

The Blackwood mansion. She had perhaps three hours—maybe four if Thomas and his family stayed at Eleanor's estate to clean up the mess she'd left behind. Three hours to pack everything she and Iniko owned, to erase five years of her life from those pristine rooms, to disappear before Thomas returned.

Because he would return. She knew him well enough to know that. He wouldn't let her leave with her dignity intact. Thomas was a diabolical man, he never loved anyone, but he had fun on stepping on them and oppressing them.

She had played on his pride and pressured till he signed the divorce papers, not to loose face in front of his mum, but she knew that she would pay for that. He would come after her, would try to drag her back, would do whatever it took to maintain control.

But by then, she would be gone. She and Iniko both. In as much as she wanted to leave the city, with Iniko and start afresh,  she couldn't. His doctors were here, she couldn't even afford to get them a house where they would live in, much less getting a plane ticket, and her parents were out of the question, they would simply hand them back into Thomas's hands, complete with a bow tie.

The bus rumbled through the wet streets, carrying her toward an uncertain future. In her purse, the divorce papers seemed to burn with their own heat. In her pocket, Niklaus's business card felt impossibly heavy.

Two days until the interview. Two days where she might start to turn her financial crisis around and survive in a city set to overwhelm her. But first, she had to survive tonight.

The mansion loomed before her as the taxi dropped her at the gates. She used her key card for what might be the last time, watching as the iron gates swung open silently. The house was dark, empty. Thomas's car was nowhere to be seen.

Ambelyn didn't waste time. She went straight to the room she'd shared with Iniko—never with Thomas, who had insisted on separate bedrooms from their wedding night, which had secretly made her happy but she never showed it, to avoid being forced to cohabit with him. She pulled out suitcases and began filling them. Clothes. Toiletries. Iniko's favorite books and toys. The few pieces of jewelry that had belonged to her mother.

She left behind everything Thomas had ever given her. The designer clothes. The expensive accessories. All of it stayed in the closet, evidence of a life she was desperate to escape.

As she worked, her phone continued to buzz with calls and messages from Thomas, who had gone from sending her messages to come back home, to threats about what he would do to her, if she doesn't pick up her phone. Blocking him was childish, besides she wasn't yet done with him to block him but she can mute him. 

She ignored them all. There was nothing left to say. The papers were signed, it left only 30 days for the cooling process to start. The marriage was over. Everything else was just noise.

By the time she finished, three suitcases stood by the door—everything she and Iniko truly needed. She took one last look around the room that had never really felt like home, then grabbed her bags and headed for the door.

Outside, the night air was cool and clean after the rain. Ambelyn loaded the suitcases into the old Honda, the old one before Thomas had given her that second hand bullshit, that she left in the Blackwood estate,  climbed behind the wheel, and drove away from the Blackwood mansion without looking back.

The hotel she chose was cheap but clean, the kind of place that asked no questions and accepted cash quickly without asking for too much information. She checked in under her maiden name—Moreau—and collapsed onto the bed fully clothed, exhaustion finally catching up with her.

But before sleep could claim her, she pulled out Niklaus's business card and stared at it in the dim light from the parking lot.

*Two days.*

Two days until she walked back into Niklaus Thorne's life. Two days until she had to face the man who had changed everything without even knowing it.

Two days until she had to pretend that seeing him didn't still make her heart race and her hands shake and her entire world tilt on its axis.

She set the card on the nightstand, closed her eyes, and let the darkness take her.

Tomorrow, she would figure out what came next. Tomorrow, she would be strong for Iniko. Tomorrow, she would start building a new life from the ashes of the old.

But tonight, just for tonight, she let herself feel the full weight of everything she'd lost and everything she was terrified to hope she might find again.