MasukMARY'S POV:I stared at the screen, my finger frozen over the notification. His profile picture was the same one he had used for years, a professional headshot, his smile controlled, his eyes unreadable. And next to it, in small gray letters, the word that changed everything:Liked.He had seen the posts. He had read them, or at least glanced at them, and he had liked one of them. Maybe accidentally. Maybe on purpose. Maybe because he agreed with what it said.It didn't matter.The like had been removed by the time I found it, quickly, probably as soon as someone told him it was there. But not quickly enough. The damage was done. Thousands of people had already seen it. Screenshots had already been taken. The internet never forgot, and neither would I.I set my phone down and walked to the window.The street outside was quiet. Normal. Cars drove past. A neighbor walked their dog. A child rode a bicycle in wobbly circles on the sidewalk. Nothing had changed, and yet everything had chan
MARY'S POV:The elevator touched the ground floor, and the doors slid open into a lobby that suddenly felt like a stage.I walked across the marble floor with my head high, my heels clicking in rhythm with my heartbeat. The security guard at the front desk glanced up at me, then looked away. A group of employees huddled near the coffee kiosk, laughing about something I couldn't hear. None of them knew. None of them had any idea that the woman walking past them had just delivered divorce papers to the CEO of the company they worked for.That was fine. They would know soon enough.The drive home was quiet. Too quiet. The radio played something soft and forgettable, and I let the sound wash over me without really hearing it. My hands gripped the steering wheel tighter than necessary. My mind kept circling back to the folder on the receptionist's desk, to the way her smile had crumbled, to the words I had finally said out loud after one years of swallowing them.I'm his wife.Such a small
Mary's POV:"I'm sorry, but Mr. Vane is in meetings all morning. If you'd like to leave your name and number, I can have someone—""Mary," I said. "My name is Mary."She typed something into her computer. Scrolled. Typed again. Her smile never changed."I'm not seeing a Mary on his schedule. Are you with a vendor? A client?"I looked past her, down the hallway lined with glass-walled offices. I could see people moving, talking, working. None of them looked up. None of them noticed me.None of them knew who I was.And why would they? Alistair had never told them. He had never mentioned me at company parties, never brought me to holiday events, never once acknowledged that he had a wife and a daughter waiting for him at home.His friends—the ones he played poker with, the ones he went to bachelor parties with, the ones who had known about Vesper for years—had never heard my name.My friends, the ones I had convinced to invest in his company, had become his friends over time. I saw them
Mary's POV:Elowen's kindergarten was a fifteen-minute drive from the house.I held her hand the whole way there. She didn't pull away, didn't squirm, didn't complain that I was holding too tight. She just walked beside me with her purple backpack slung over her shoulder, her hair finally brushed, her dress replaced with jeans and a t-shirt that said I Heart Unicorns in glittery letters.At the classroom door, she stopped and turned to look at me."Mommy?""Yes, baby?""Are you going to talk to Dad today?"I crouched down so we were eye to eye. "Yes. I am.""Are you going to be sad again after?"The question was so simple, and so complicated, and so perfectly her that I almost started crying right there in the hallway."No," I said. "I'm not going to be sad. I promise."She studied my face for a long moment. Then she nodded, as if satisfied, and threw her arms around my neck."I love you, Mommy.""I love you too, baby. Have a good day."She disappeared into the classroom, and I stood
Mary's POV:Elowen's small hand stayed on my cheek for a long time after I asked the question.The kitchen was quiet around us—the refrigerator humming, the clock ticking, the morning light shifting across the floor in slow golden arcs. I could hear my own breathing, shallow and uneven, and I could hear hers, slower, steadier, like she was the one holding me together instead of the other way around."I don't want to never see Dad," she said finally.The words landed softly, but they landed hard. I felt them in my chest, in my throat, in the places where I had been storing all the hope I hadn't let myself feel for years."Of course not, baby," I said. "You'll always see him. Nothing will ever change that."She pulled back slightly, just enough to look at my face. Her eyes, those dark, serious eyes that saw too much and asked too many questions, searched mine for something I couldn't name."But I'd even more not want to see you sad."The words hit me like a physical blow.I had spent th
MARY'S POV:"You're taking his car," I said. It wasn't a question."He said I could." She slipped the keys into the pocket of her robe and glanced back at me over her shoulder. "I have things to do. Places to be. Don't wait up."The door opened. The morning light spilled in, golden and warm, illuminating every crack in the marble floor, every piece of broken glass, every photograph scattered at my feet.And then she was gone.The door closed behind her. The engine of Alistair's car rumbled to life in the driveway. I stood there in the silence, still holding the broken frame, still wearing my flour-dusted apron, still trying to understand how my life had become this.I walked to the kitchen. My phone was on the counter, exactly where I had left it. The screen was dark. No messages. No missed calls. Nothing from Alistair.I picked it up and dialed his number.It rang once. Twice. Three times."Mary?" His voice was distracted, distant, like he was already thinking about something else. "
HANNAH’S POV:Her words struck deep, not just at Jacob but at all of us. At me.Because a part of me, somewhere deep down, understood her pain—the humiliation, the heartbreak, the helplessness of giving yourself to someone only to be left broken and blamed.Cherry suddenly turned and stormed toward
HANNAH’S POV:I nodded slowly and found myself saying even though I didn’t seem to care about Elijah. “Flora, you can’t keep something like that from him. He deserves to know.”She smiled sadly. “Maybe. But for now, I want to keep it between us. Please.”There was something so fragile about her the
ELIJAH’S POV:“You are famous and an athlete. Let me shine, Uncle Jacob.” He said in a commanding tone and I bursted out in laughter and Jacob raised his hand in surrender. “Come on! Let’s go.” He dashed out and I loved him seeing energetic as most of the time, his eyes were glued to a book or he
HANNAH’S POV:“Good afternoon.” I greeted professionally and returned a small polite smile, walking over and taking the seat across from her.“You look beautiful,” she said, her voice calm, warm even and I couldn’t even pretend like I was taken aback by her compliment.I cleared my throat and place







