CHAPTER FOUR

“I want a divorce,” Sean said in an emotionless voice.

I knew this was coming. I just didn’t think it would be this soon. I had been preparing myself for this conversation for a while, but I was still trembling with pain.

The moment I heard that Julie, my stepsister, was back in town, I knew the divorce conversation would be next.

I dropped my spoon and tucked my hands under the table. He had just gotten home from work, and we were having dinner. I had prepared his favorite meal.

I lifted my head and looked him straight in the face, trying desperately to hold back my tears. With shaking lips, I asked, “Why?”

I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it from him. “You… you know we didn’t get married because of love. I only married you because your sister left. We can’t go on like this, and our baby that we lost… we’ve been miserable for months now,” he said outright.

The tears I’d been fighting threatened to break free as the memories I had tried so hard to bury came flooding back.

A few months after we married, I got pregnant. One afternoon I slipped in the bathroom and fell. I miscarried. I still remember the blood everywhere.

After that, everything got worse. Sean never loved me, but before the miscarriage, he had at least treated me well.

Afterward, we were both miserable and grew further and further apart. He was never home, and I stayed locked in my room, crying my eyes out.

I didn’t utter a word.

“We need to go our separate ways. That’s what’s best for both of us,” he said.

His eyes were emotionless. No sadness, no pain, no regret. It made me wonder if he had ever, even for a second, truly liked me or cared for me at all.

I knew he wanted this divorce because he loved my sister, not me. Everything else was just an excuse. He wanted to be with his first love, the woman he had really wanted to marry before I was forced to take her place when she ran away from the wedding.

I couldn’t blame him, though. Julie was what people call a heavenly beauty. A model, breathtakingly gorgeous. If she hadn’t left that day because she suddenly decided she wasn’t ready for marriage, Sean would never have looked in my direction.

“You can’t just wake up one day and decide to get a divorce,” I said. “That’s not how it works. We’re married, not dating. This isn’t a breakup.”

We had made vows at the altar for better or worse. Even though he didn’t love me, I had taken those vows seriously. I had promised myself I wouldn’t let him go without a fight.

Before Sean and Julie ever knew each other, I had known him first. We went to the same college; he was one year ahead of me. I’m sure he never noticed me, but I noticed him. I watched him every day.

He walked around like he owned the campus, not in an arrogant way, but with a natural confidence that made him the center of attention without even trying.

“I’m exhausted, Claire. We’ve been married for just one year, and it has been the worst year of my life.” His sharp words drilled straight through my heart.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” he continued. “You were forced to marry me. You don’t love me, and I don’t love you. Let’s stop making our lives more miserable.”

He really didn’t understand how much weight his words carried.

“I’m sure we can do better. We can be better. We can make this work. Just give it some time, please,” I pleaded. The tears I had been holding back finally spilled down my cheeks.

“My mind’s made up. There’s nothing you can do to change it,” he said with finality.

“But—”

He stood up abruptly, cutting me off. His gaze was colder than I had ever seen it. “This whole year has been a waste of your time and mine. Let’s end it here before it gets uglier.”

I was shocked to my core.

I had put my business on hold just to commit fully to him and this marriage, and this was what I got?

I wanted to scream, cry out loud, pull my hair out, but I stayed still, hands clasped tightly in my lap, knuckles turning white.

I looked into his eyes, those green eyes that had once sparkled when he accidentally bumped into me in college. Now they held nothing but coldness.

Finally, I came to my senses. I was the only one in love. He could never love me. I was the only one clinging to this marriage, hoping one day he would love me back, clinging to something that had never existed.

“You’re right,” I whispered. My voice was calm now, a lot steadier.

Sean looked shocked. Maybe he had expected me to cry harder or beg more. But I was done being a fool for a man who had only ever seen me as a replacement.

He opened his mouth to speak, but I raised my hand and stopped him. I rose gently from my chair with the little dignity I had left, pushed it in, and wiped the fallen tears from my face. My expression hardened.

“You’re not divorcing me because I make you miserable or any of the rubbish you just spat out. You’re divorcing me because the woman of your dreams is waiting around the corner for you to open your arms and take her back like the piece of trash you are, always ready to let her in whenever she feels like it, then get discarded like garbage again when she leaves.”

Sean’s face hardened; rage flashed in his eyes. But I didn’t care anymore.

“If you knew you could never love me, you shouldn’t have touched me at all. But I can’t put all the blame on you, can I? I was the fool who thought you were worth my time and my love. Thankfully, it was only one year wasted.”

I didn’t know where the words were coming from, but I couldn’t stop myself even if I tried.

“Claire—”

“If it’s a divorce you want, you’ll get it. Maybe you’re right. We do make each other miserable.”

The silence that followed was heavier than any scream could have been.