Chapter 4

When I got home, Victoria was there too.

She was standing at the master bedroom vanity, pinching that heavy kraft envelope.

The coins rattled as she shook it, and she let out a sharp laugh.

"Donna. Oh no, wait. Audrey."

She turned and waved the envelope, triumphant.

"Nathaniel says you never forgive anyone ten times. Have you started counting? All these coins, how many times did you have to get your heart broken?"

I held out my hand.

"Give it back."

"But I don't think you'll actually leave, Audrey."

She glanced at the half-empty closet, her voice dripping with contempt and certainty.

"You gave him almost everything you had. You don't dare actually walk out that door. You just want him to notice, then wait for him to come coax you back."

I didn't waste words on her. I just held my hand out again, calm.

"Give me the envelope."

Victoria instinctively stepped back.

But that step landed right on the ragdoll cat's tail.

The cat, badly startled, let out a piercing shriek and lunged at her face.

She screamed in terror, flailing her hands, and in the panic she slammed the glass jar that had held the coins straight onto the floor.

Crack!

Shards of glass sprayed everywhere.

Coins clattered and rolled across the room.

In the chaos, the cat's paw landed right on a sharp piece, and blood instantly dotted the white floor.

The door banged open.

Nathaniel rushed in, frantic.

By then Victoria was clutching the bleeding cat, three angry red scratches on the back of her hand, sobbing.

"Don, Donna didn't mean it, don't blame her—"

Nathaniel whipped his head around and stared at me, shock and fury in his eyes.

"You threw a jar at her?"

I took a deep breath.

"I didn't."

Nathaniel drew a slow breath.

"Then explain the mess on the floor."

Victoria grabbed his suit sleeve and hurried to "explain" for me, all innocence.

"Forget it, Don. She just wanted to snatch the coins back from me. The cat suddenly jumped at her, she probably just got scared and grabbed the jar—"

Nathaniel looked at the scattered coins, and the fury in his eyes slowly turned to disbelief, to sheer absurdity.

"Over a few worthless coins? Audrey? Is this really worth it?"

"Worth it."

I crouched down without a flicker of expression and picked up the coin closest to me.

When I stood back up, Nathaniel was looking at me like I was a clown.

"I get it now."

Like he'd finally cracked some absurd logic, he sneered.

"Audrey, you think Victoria stole your spotlight as the Donna? So to get back at me and vent your feelings, you hurt her and her cat?"

He'd finally "seen the light." All my silence and compliance today had just been resentment building up, a tantrum in the making.

I lifted my head and looked at him quietly.

"You believe every word she says?"

"She has no reason to lie to me."

That line again.

Three years ago, Victoria said I hid her thesis draft. He believed her.

Two years ago, she said I deliberately failed to tell her team when the move was happening. He believed her.

Last year, she said I only checked into the hospital with a high fever to trick him into leaving an important family meeting. He believed her then too.

Every time, he thought she was pure and harmless, no reason to lie.

Because in this house, the pathetic role that needed "lying" and "throwing little tantrums" to get attention could only be me.

Because I was his wife. The Donna, bound beneath his Don authority.

Victoria burrowed into his arms, sniffled, and said softly.

"Don, don't blame Donna. She probably just cares about you too much. She can't bear to let you go."

Nathaniel's face went completely cold.

He grabbed Victoria's injured hand.

"Tonight I'm taking Victoria to a hotel, and getting the cat's paw treated. You stay here and cool off."

A dead silence fell over the bedroom.

In his mind, this was already an enormous concession.

He thought I'd break down crying like before, rush to grab him and explain the truth, humbly pull my thorns back in, all for the chance that he'd stay with me.

But I just quietly put the coin I'd picked up back into the kraft envelope.

"No need. I'm leaving."

Nathaniel's brows slammed together, clearly deeply displeased with how easily I'd agreed.

"Listen to me. I'm giving you time alone to cool off, not giving you a chance to threaten me with the silent treatment and divorce."

"Mm."

"When you've figured out where you went wrong, go apologize to Victoria."

"Got it."

His gaze swept past the twelve large boxes and the rolling suitcase already neatly packed by the wall, and the tension in his face actually eased. He smiled.

"You even packed your suitcase ahead of time. And you still want to tell me you're not throwing a tantrum to get my attention?"

I pulled up the handle of the suitcase and gave him a small smile.

"You're right."

He loved seeing me bow my head and admit fault.

Even when the fault I was admitting was nothing like the one he had in his head.

Victoria leaned weakly against him, but her eyes were fixed hard on the envelope in my hand. She asked softly.

"Donna, it's so late. Where are you going with your luggage?"

"Someone's picking me up."

Nathaniel let out a cold laugh at that, his tone full of the contempt and arrogance of a man who controlled everything.

"Someone's picking you up? Audrey, in New York, who would dare?"

Ding.

From the hallway outside came the crisp chime of the private elevator arriving.

I didn't say another word. I pulled my suitcase and walked straight out without looking back.

Nathaniel stood in the master bedroom doorway and didn't take a single step after me.

Behind me, I could faintly hear his soft, low voice soothing Victoria, unhurried.

"Stop crying. Tomorrow morning you'll see her in the kitchen making me breakfast like always."

"She can't bear to leave me."

He said it so casually. But he never noticed that my passport and plane ticket were tucked into the suitcase.

I pressed the elevator button.

This time, I really could bear it.