Chapter 2:The First Step Away

Chapter Two

LILA

I stared at the bank statement until the numbers started blurring in front of me. I was completely confused because we had saved that money together, every single bit of it. Even the money I'd saved before I got married, I'd poured all of it into this account because Marcus had convinced me that we were building our future together. Our house, our investments, our children someday, our life. So where was our money? What was going on?

My hands were shaking as I looked at the statement again. Was this why he had refused to talk to me? Did Marcus want to leave me? The thought hit me so hard that I felt my stomach twist. I was physically shaking, and I couldn't think. I had to do something. Something, anything.

I grabbed my car keys and left the house. I drove straight to Sophie's, although I barely remember the drive. My mind was moving too fast, and every possibility scared me. By the time I pulled into Sophie's driveway, I was already crying.

Sophie came out the moment she saw my car, and the look on her face changed immediately. She knew me. She knew how much I loved dressing up. Even when I wasn't going anywhere, I liked looking good. But that day, I stepped out of my car looking like someone who had lost everything. My hair was messy, my face was swollen from crying, and I couldn't even walk properly because my knees felt weak.

"Lila?"

I tried to take a step toward her, but I couldn't. I broke down and sank to the ground, crying so hard that I could barely breathe. It wasn't the quiet kind of crying. It was the kind that came from somewhere deep inside you, the kind that made your entire body hurt.

Sophie ran to me. "Lila, what happened?"

I couldn't answer. She held my shoulders, already crying with me, and kept asking me to stand up and tell her what was wrong. I kept crying because I didn't know how to explain it. How had I ended up here? How had I gone from being someone's wife to feeling like I had nothing? Who was I? What had happened to my life?

I had spent ten years believing I was secure. I had trusted my husband with everything: my heart, my money, my future, everything. And suddenly, I didn't know what I had left.

Sophie eventually helped me to my feet and took me inside. She led me to her little room, as she always called it. Sophie lived in a huge green mansion because, according to her, white and beige were boring. She had designed the entire house herself, working hand in hand with her interior decorator, and she had the final say on everything. But her little room was different. Nobody was allowed to enter it. It was private, the one place in her house where she could disappear whenever she wanted to be alone.

Today, she took me there.

I sat on the couch, still shaking, while Sophie sat beside me and held my hand.

"Talk to me."

I tried, but the words came out broken. "I found something."

"What?"

"Marcus."

My voice cracked, and Sophie waited.

"He hasn't been talking to me for seventy-seven days."

Her expression changed immediately. "What?"

I nodded. "I never told you because I couldn't explain it."

Then I told her everything. I told her about the silence periods and how they had started two years into our marriage. I told her how Marcus would suddenly switch and become a completely different person. He wouldn't look at me, wouldn't touch me, wouldn't speak to me. I spent days wondering what I had done to deserve it.

Sometimes I could trace it back to something. Maybe we'd had too much fun together. Maybe I'd said something he didn't like. Maybe it was something as stupid as me telling him to let go of my hand while we were playing and laughing. Sometimes I couldn't trace it to anything at all. Just nothing.

Marcus had never really told me what I did to him. I'd asked him countless times, but he simply switched off and shut me out as though I didn't exist.

I told Sophie about the first time it happened and how badly it affected me. I told her how I had stopped eating, how I cried until I passed out, and how Marcus had found me. I told her that was the first time he finally spoke to me again and how, after that, he became loving as though nothing had happened.

I told her how the silence had gotten worse over the years, lasting weeks at first, then months. I told her about yesterday and how Marcus had left me crying on the floor outside the guest bedroom before walking away from me like I meant nothing.

Finally, I told her about the bank statement.

"Our savings are gone."

Sophie went completely still. "What?"

"Our joint account." I swallowed hard. "There's almost nothing left."

I looked down at my hands as my voice broke. "And that's when I realized... Marcus doesn't love me."

Sophie looked at me for a moment without saying anything. Then she pulled me into her arms.

That was all it took.

I cried harder, and Sophie cried too. She held me like she was trying to put me back together, and I realized just how much I had needed someone to do that for me.

She was my soul sister.

For the first time, I allowed myself to admit what I had spent ten years refusing to see. Marcus had hurt me, repeatedly, and I had called it love.

"I've lost everything," I whispered.

"The money, Lila?"

I nodded. "Everything."

Sophie pulled back and wiped my tears. "Listen to me. You haven't lost everything."

"I have."

"No, you haven't." She squeezed my hands. "I have enough money to help you. You don't need to worry about that."

I shook my head. "This isn't about money."

"I know." Her expression hardened. "You need to leave him."

I looked at her. "Leave?"

"Yes." She was crying again, but there was anger in her eyes now. "Run as far away from that monster as you can."

I stared at her, unable to respond.

"If you're leaving, Lila, then don't leave empty-handed. Find out what belongs to you. Your money, your properties, everything."

"I don't even know where to start."

"I do."

She suddenly sat upright. "Dominic Kane."

I frowned. "Who?"

"Dominic Kane."

I'd heard the name before, but I'd never really paid attention to it.

Sophie grabbed her phone. "He's a divorce lawyer."

I stared at her.

"He's good. Very good."

She told me about one of her friends who had used him during a particularly ugly divorce. According to Sophie, he was the kind of lawyer you wanted on your side when everything was falling apart.

I looked toward the ceiling, thinking about how helpless I was. Almost everything Marcus and I owned was in his name. He had convinced me to quit my job years ago because he said I didn't need to work. He would provide everything.

And I had believed him.

Because why wouldn't I?

He was my husband.

I had trusted him.

Now I didn't even know where to begin rebuilding my life.

After sitting there for what felt like hours, I decided to go home and confront my husband. Maybe Marcus had an explanation. Maybe there was something I didn't know. Maybe there was a reason for the money. He had been a decent man for most of our marriage, and I desperately needed to believe there was still an explanation for everything.

On my drive home, I kept giving myself hope. There had to be something. Marcus couldn't have simply taken our money for no reason. Maybe I had misunderstood the statement. Maybe there was something he hadn't told me yet.

When I got home, I found Marcus in the guest bedroom. I walked straight toward him.

"Where is our money?"

He looked at me, and there was something in his eyes I'd never seen before.

Disgust.

"There is no money there."

My heart stopped. "What?"

"You withdrew it."

His voice was low and cold before he simply walked away.

"Marcus!"

He didn't turn.

I followed him. "Tell me what you mean."

He walked back into the bedroom and shut the door.

I started knocking. "Open the door!"

Nothing.

"Marcus, open this door!"

I knocked harder. "Please!"

Still nothing.

I was crying now, hitting the door harder and harder until something inside me snapped. The door gave way, and I stumbled into the room.

Marcus stood from the bed.

Before I could even speak, he pushed me out.

I fell back. "Marcus!"

He walked past me and left the house.

Just like that.

No explanation. No goodbye. Nothing.

I stood there completely confused, staring at the empty space where he'd been. What was happening to my life?

I grabbed my phone and called the bank because I needed to know what had happened to my money.

The information they gave me made my entire body go cold.

The money hadn't disappeared recently.

It had been moved from our joint account gradually since last year.

My breathing stopped.

Last year?

Then I remembered.

One document.

Marcus had brought it to me and told me he wanted to buy a property in my name. He said he only needed my signature.

I'd signed it without thinking twice.

God, I was such a fool.

I had trusted this man so much.

And the worst part was that Marcus was already rich. He didn't need our savings. He didn't need my money. So why would he do this?

I needed an explanation. Something to hold on to. Anything that could make this make sense.

I picked up my phone to call Sophie, but then I saw her message. She had already sent me the divorce lawyer's number.

I stared at it for a long moment, my thumb hovering over the screen.

I just can't keep living like this.

Not with this man.

Not with this monster.

I saved the number and called.

A woman answered.

"Good afternoon, Dominic Kane's office."

My heart began pounding.

"I'd like to book an appointment."

"Of course. May I ask what the appointment is regarding?"

I closed my eyes.

Divorce.

The word felt strange in my mouth, but I said it anyway.

"I'm getting divorced."

There was a brief pause.

"Mr. Kane can see you tomorrow morning."

I swallowed. "Tomorrow?"

"Yes."

I looked around the empty room. For ten years, I had called this life mine. Now I wasn't even sure what belonged to me anymore.

"Okay," I whispered. "Book it."

I ended the call and stared at the divorce lawyer's number on my phone.

For the first time, I wasn't waiting for Marcus to come back.

I was preparing to leave.