Chapter 9

 (Evelyn's POV)

I locked the bedroom door and slid down against it, knees pulled to my chest. The tears came before I could stop them. Raw choking sobs that shook my whole body.

 I'd give myself five minutes to fall apart, and then I'd pull myself back together.

I counted the seconds in my head, focusing on breathing between each wave of grief. When the timer in my mind hit zero, I wiped my face with the back of my hand and stood.

The suitcases were at the top of the closet. I pulled them down, dust coating my fingers. We'd bought them for our honeymoon in Bali. Seven years ago, when everything still felt right.

I threw open drawers and started grabbing clothes without really looking at them. Jeans, shirts, underwear, just basics. Nothing he'd given me. I left behind the designer dresses he'd bought for company events, the silk nightgowns he loved, the cashmere sweaters from last Christmas.

From the nightstand, I took my grandmother's jewelry box. The pearls she'd worn on her wedding day. The sapphire ring that had belonged to my mother. Things that were mine before Julian, things that would be mine after.

My laptop went into my bag next, along with every important document I could find. Birth certificate, passport, the flash drive with the security footage. My parents' photo from my desk 

Then a soft knock made me freeze.

"Evelyn?" Julian's voice was muffled through the door. "Please. Can we just talk?"

I didn't answer. I just kept packing.

"I know you're angry. You have every right to be. But leaving in the middle of the night, that's not you. That's not us."

There was no us anymore. He'd made sure of that.

I heard him slide down to sit on the other side of the door, the wood creaking under his weight.

"Remember when we first moved in here? You were so excited about decorating. You spent weeks finding the perfect curtains for the living room. Said they had to let in morning light but not be too transparent"

My hands stilled on the clothes I was folding. I did remember. I'd been so happy then, building a home with the man I loved, and thought loved me too.

"I should've paid more attention to things like that. To what made you happy. I got so caught up in work, in building the company—" His voice cracked. "I forgot to build our marriage."

I zipped the first suitcase closed harder than necessary.

The charm bracelet was still on the dresser where I'd left it earlier. I picked it up, turning it over in my hands. Each star caught the dim light, mocking me with how pretty they were. How thoughtful the gesture would've been if it wasn't a lie.

I should throw it away and leave it behind with everything else.

Instead, I tucked it into my pocket. Not because I wanted to keep it, but because I needed the reminder. Needed something tangible to look at when doubt crept in, when I started questioning if I'd made the right choice.

The closet was next. I pulled my clothes off hangers, leaving his untouched. That red dress he loved? I left it. The shoes he'd bought me in Paris? Stayed on the shelf. If he'd purchased it, I didn't want it.

My fingers brushed against the wedding album on the top shelf. White leather with our names engraved in gold. I pulled it down, flipped it open to a random page.

There we were at the reception, his arm around my waist, both of us grinning like idiots. My dress had been perfect. The weather had cooperated. Everyone said it was the most beautiful wedding they'd ever seen.

What a joke.

I shoved the album back onto the shelf and grabbed the last of my things.

Julian was still talking on the other side of the door, his voice rising and falling like waves. I'd stopped listening to the words. They didn't matter anymore. Nothing he could say would change what he'd done.

I opened my laptop on the bed and started the systematic destruction of our shared life.

Banking app first. I transferred half of our joint checking account to my personal one. My rightful half, nothing more. But when I logged in, something made me pause. There was another account linked to Julian's profile. One I'd never seen before. So I clicked on it.

Regular transfers going out over the past year. Always the same amount, always on the fifteenth of each month. Sent to an account under Serena's name.

My stomach turned. 

He'd been paying her. Actually paying her, like she was some kind of kept woman.

I quickly closed the laptop before I threw it across the room.

But then I remembered, my grandmother's trust fund. Julian didn't know about it because I'd never told him. It had been my safety net, my one secret in a marriage where I'd thought we shared everything.

$2.3 million, sitting in an account he couldn't touch.

Thank God for that instinct. Thank God I'd kept something just for myself.

I pulled up my email and typed quickly to my assistant: "Family emergency. Will be unreachable for the next few weeks. Forward anything urgent to my personal account." 

Then I started a new email to Serena.

“You can have him. He was never really mine anyway. You should know though, men like Julian don't change. They just find new women to lie to. Good luck.”

My finger hesitated over the send button.

No.

She wasn't worth the energy or the anger or the satisfaction of knowing she'd read it. I deleted the draft instead and closed my laptop.

My wedding ring caught the light as I reached for my phone. The platinum band Julian had slipped onto my finger while promising forever. While lying, apparently, because forever to him meant until something shinier came along.

I twisted it off and set it on the nightstand next to his side of the bed. Right where he'd see it first thing in the morning.

The bedroom looked the same but felt completely different now. Like a stage set after the play ended, when you could see all the painted backdrops for what they really were.

I wasn't crying anymore. The tears had dried up somewhere between packing and unpacking Julian's lies. Now I just felt empty, like someone had raided my insides and left an empty shell walking around.

But empty was better than broken. Empty meant there was room to rebuild and refill.

I grabbed both suitcases and opened the door.

The living room was dark. Julian had finally stopped talking and lay sprawled on the couch, one arm thrown over his eyes. The divorce papers were clutched in his other hand, wrinkled from his grip. His phone had slipped from his chest to the floor, screen still glowing with Serena's contact pulled up.

He'd been about to call her. Even after everything tonight, his instinct was still to reach for her.

I stood there for a long moment, looking at this man I'd spent seven years loving. His hair was messed up from running his hands through it. His shirt was half-untucked. He looked smaller somehow and diminished.

Good.

I placed my wedding ring on the coffee table, right next to the unopened charm bracelet. Let him figure out what that meant.

The suitcase wheels were loud against the floor as I headed for the door. I tried to be quiet but didn't try hard enough.

Just as my hand closed around the doorknob, Julian stirred behind me.

"Evelyn?"

I froze, but didn't turn around.

He sat up, blinking. His eyes found the suitcases first, then traveled up to my face. "No. No, you're not—you can't—"

"Goodbye, Julian."

"Wait." He stumbled off the couch, nearly tripping over the coffee table. "Just wait. Please."

I turned the knob.

"It's the middle of the night. Where are you even going to go?"

"That's not your concern anymore."

He moved faster than I expected, putting himself between me and the door. "I'm not letting you leave. Not like this."

Something cold settled in my chest. "Move."

"Five minutes. Just give me five minutes to explain, and if you still want to go, I won't stop you. I promise."

I looked at him and the desperation in his eyes, the way his hands shook as he held them out.

Part of me wanted to shove past him and never look back. But another part, the part that had loved this man for seven years, needed to hear what he thought could possibly justify eighteen months of betrayal.

I checked my watch. "You have five minutes. Starting now.”