{ THREE }

ALICE

“I’m not doing that.”

The words came out flat and cold, putting distance back between us almost immediately. As if the evening had gone a little too far already.

The music drifting from the ballroom slowed at the exact wrong moment — intimate enough to make everything more awkward. “You’re being unreasonable,” he said.

I nodded once.

“Maybe.” Something showed across his face.

“Then stop pushing me, Catherine.” The way he said my name landed harder than it should have.

“You gave me tonight.” His jaw tightened.

“That wasn’t part of the agreement.”

The problem was that he didn't sound angry.

“We never said what wasn’t included.” I held his gaze after I said it. For a few seconds, neither of us moved.

Then I asked quietly, “Are you going to break your promise already?” The silence came heavy enough that I became aware of every little sound around us.

Vaylen’s fingers stilled beside his wine glass. Then he leaned back in his chair and stood.

Reluctantly. Like agreeing annoyed him more than refusing.

“This is the last thing,” he said. But the look he gave me afterward made it very clear neither of us believed that.

The ballroom opened around us in warm gold light and slow music. Voices blurred beneath the orchestra.

Glass and crystal caught the light from every direction. Somewhere across the room, people laughed softly over dinner and wine.

Vaylen’s hand stayed firm around mine as we stepped onto the dance floor, but I felt the tension in him immediately. Like he already regretted agreeing to this and was trying not to show it.

I moved a little closer anyway. Just enough that he would notice.

His fingers flexed once against mine. The music swelled around us, low and steady, and after a minute my body adjusted to his automatically.

Smaller turns. Easier steps. I guided carefully enough that nobody watching would notice he wasn’t fully leading anymore.

He followed without saying anything. And somewhere in the middle of it, something loosened inside me.

Something I hadn’t realized I missed this much.

Me.

Not Catherine Morgan. Not the quiet version of myself I’d spent three years becoming.

Not the woman who learned how to stay small inside this marriage so nothing cracked open. For one song, I stopped trying so hard to disappear.

The couples around us slowly drifted off the floor one by one. I noticed it gradually.

A pair near the edge stopped dancing first. Then another. The room’s attention shifted toward us.

Vaylen’s hand tightened slightly at my waist. His fingers pressed into the fabric of my dress.

I kept my eyes away from his face, because looking at him too long tonight felt dangerous. It would be too easy to misunderstand this.

Too easy to forget there was still another woman between us even when she wasn’t standing here. Hope had always been the worst habit I had with him.

So instead, I smiled softly and let the music carry me through the moment. The warmth of his hand at my waist felt almost unbearable now.

Five days left. And somehow this was happening now, at the very end.

Applause broke out near one of the tables. Then another joined in. Within seconds people around the floor were openly watching us with easy smiles, maybe they thought they were witnessing a couple deeply in love. They had no idea what they were looking at.

Vaylen’s hand tightened again. I felt his breath near my temple, uneven for the first time all night. And for one awful second, it felt real. This could have been us if things had been different.

If he had ever let himself love me the way I loved him. His hand flexed once at my waist.

Like he was thinking about pulling me closer instead of letting the song end. Then—

“Vaylen...”

Her voice pierced straight through the room.

The applause stopped immediately. Not slowly. Just gone.

Even the orchestra stumbled for half a beat before recovering. Melissa walked across the ballroom, cold anger written all over her face.

Expensive dress. Sharp heels striking marble in fast, hard clicks. I felt Vaylen's hand loosen at my waist almost instantly.

Melissa reached us before I could step away. Then her hand hit hard at my shoulder.

My heel twisted under me so violently pain shot through my ankle fast enough to blank everything else out for a second. My hand flew to my stomach before I even realized I’d done it.

Then I hit the floor. The breath left my lungs completely.

The only sound I could hear was the orchestra still playing somewhere above me, calm and polished while the room around me turned restless. I pressed a hand against the marble and tried to push myself up.

Pain tore through my ankle the second I moved. I froze.

Above me, Melissa grabbed Vaylen’s arm. “What the hell is she doing here?”

Her voice carried across the ballroom easily. Whispers spread almost immediately around us.

Heat crawled slowly up my neck, but I lifted my head anyway. And looked at Vaylen.

He had already moved toward me. One step. One hand half-raised.

Then Melissa tightened her grip on his arm. “Vaylen.”

The way she said his name sounded nothing like the way I ever had. He stopped.

The whole room seemed to hold still with him. His eyes met mine.

Something crossed his face. Regret maybe. Conflict. I don’t know.

But I saw it. And then I watched him bury it.

Right there in front of me, I watched Vaylen Morgan make a choice in real time. He straightened slowly, the expression disappearing behind that familiar wall again, and let Melissa pull him toward the exit.

“Get your filthy self off the floor,” Melissa snapped finally, looking down at me. My ankle nearly gave out when I stood, but I didn’t make a sound.

I just watched Vaylen disappear into the crowd. He never looked back.

The music kept playing. A shadow stopped beside me.

Then a hand appeared in front of me, open and waiting. “Are you hurt?”

The voice was calm. Steady. I looked up slowly.

“I’m fine.” The lie came out softer than I meant it to.

His eyes flicked down briefly to my ankle. He held his hand out.

I stared at it for a second. Then I took it.

He helped me up carefully, steadying me when my ankle nearly folded again. “Can you walk?”

“Yes.” I swallowed. “Thank you.”

I turned toward the exit and started moving slowly. Behind me, the ballroom was already recovering.

Conversations restarting. Glasses clinking again. People slipping back into their expensive little evenings like nothing had happened.

The hallway outside was quiet. I looked toward the parking area automatically.

Vaylen’s car was gone. My fingers curled once at my side.

I stood there a second too long, just long enough for the feeling to settle properly this time. Then I let out a slow breath.

No phone. No purse. No cards.

All I’d wanted was one uninterrupted night with my husband.

“He left?”

Michael had followed me out into the corridor. His voice stayed careful, like he already knew the answer.

I nodded once. Something tightened briefly in his expression.

“I’ll take you home.” I didn’t argue.

---

The city passed outside the car window in pieces. Neither of us said much.

A passing light caught my hand suddenly, and the diamond flashed across the inside of the car. I looked down at it.

I turned the ring slowly with my thumb. The weight of it had felt normal once.

Somewhere along the last three years, it stopped feeling like mine. I slid it off carefully.

The skin beneath looked strange without it. Pale where the band had covered it for years.

I held the ring loosely in my palm while the bridge stretched out ahead of us. Then my fingers opened.

I never heard it hit the floor.

---

The penthouse was dark when I got home. I made it halfway down the hallway before my legs gave out on me.

One second I was walking. The next, I had a hand against the wall trying to steady myself while pain shot through my ankle again.

I lowered myself to the floor carefully. The marble felt cold through the fabric of my dress.

For a while, I just sat there breathing. The ballroom kept replaying in fragments behind my eyes.

I shut my eyes hard. *Five more days.*

The thought stayed there for exactly one second. Then something inside me settled.

I wasn’t waiting five more days. I was leaving tomorrow.

I pushed myself back up and walked slowly to the bedroom. My ankle protested with every step.

I pulled out the box and opened it carefully. I picked the phone up and pressed the power button.

The screen lit immediately. Notifications flooded in all at once.

Missed calls. Old messages. Names I hadn’t seen in years.

An entire life I had cut myself away from the day I married Vaylen Morgan suddenly sitting in my hands again. Three years of silence opening in seconds.

I scrolled slowly through the contacts. Then my thumb stopped on one name.

I stared at it for a moment then I dialed the number and held it to my ear.