Chapter 2

"Vera!"

Rushed footsteps came up behind me. Theo jogged the last few steps and stopped in front of me, a little out of breath. "What was that? You see me and you don't even say hello?"

I looked him dead in the eye and didn't flinch.

"You didn't say hello to me either."

He frowned. "I saw you. But Lydia was in trouble. You're a grown woman. I didn't need to stop and explain."

So he had seen me.

I smiled. There was something bitter on my tongue.

When he saw me smile, his tone softened. "Lydia's blood sugar crashed. There was no way I could just leave her like that."

"Leave her?" I said. "You've been looking after her for seven years. How much longer is this going to go on?"

"Vera, be reasonable."

"Theo." I cut him off, keeping my voice as level as I could. "I'm going to lay it out plainly today. Either you keep your distance from her, or we get divorced."

I took the agreement out of my bag, my fingers curling tight beneath the paper.

Theo, I'm trying one last time.

Just say yes. You can't even agree to a small thing like keeping your distance?

He glanced at me, his eyes dropping to the agreement, then sliding away.

"You're making a scene over this?" His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a kind of condescension. "Vera, I thought you of all people understood boundaries."

"Boundaries?"

A sour heat rose to the bridge of my nose. It took almost everything I had to stop myself from saying the words I'm pregnant.

I'd already given up so much ground. I had to keep one last shred of dignity for myself.

"Lydia married the wrong man. You know exactly what kind of person Damon is. If I don't help her, she really won't make it."

Theo paused. "And besides, the fact that she ended up with Damon at all has something to do with me."

"That's a responsibility I can carry."

Responsibility.

Right.

He'd taken on the responsibility for Lydia. So what about me?

Something clamped down hard on my heart, and a dull ache spread from my chest all the way up to my throat.

"Fine. Then sign it."

Theo's face froze. He narrowed his eyes. "You're serious?"

His phone rang, cutting through the current running between us.

He glanced at the screen, turned, and answered. "What's wrong? Okay, I'll be right there."

He hung up and looked back at me like he wanted to say something.

I dug my nails into my palm and forced myself to walk away.

In the car, I dialed a number.

"Yes. I need you to draft divorce filing documents for me. As fast as you can."

Twenty minutes later, I got back to the apartment.

I'd lived in this place for seven years. Every corner of it held our memories.

Now there were traces of another woman everywhere.

Bright curtains and rugs, the trendy little table settings and trinkets, and the bitter scent of chamomile hanging in the air.

I dragged out my suitcase and packed my things.

While digging for my documents, a metal box slid to the floor.

Two reports spilled out.

One was a vasectomy report from seven years ago.

The other was a reversal surgery order from last month.

My mind went blank. The objects, the room, the light, all of it seemed to warp.

In the daze, a hand settled on my arm, and I shook it off on instinct.

For an instant, I came back to myself.

I looked up at the man in front of me and couldn't get a single question out.

Because his expression had already said everything.

The man I'd loved for seven years had never planned, from the very beginning, to have a child with me.

"Ve—"

Theo lifted a stiff hand, trying to steady my shoulder. I dodged it.

Funny. In the space of half an hour, the man I'd only just seen had become a complete stranger.

A stranger so far gone he made my skin crawl.