Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Lillian heard the front door open and felt her shoulders relax for the first time all day. She was not sure what made her do it.

Maybe it was the strange feeling she had carried all day, that quiet anxiety in her chest that told her something bad was about to happen.

She had spent the entire afternoon cooking jollof rice and grilled chicken, Nathaniel’s favourite. She had also cleaned the house from top to bottom, ironed his shirts, and left his evening clothes folded neatly on the bed. The same routine she had kept for three years.

She and Nathaniel had met when she was thirteen and he was sixteen. He was the son of William Brooks, her father’s closest business associate.

Back then, Nathaniel barely acknowledged her. But Lillian had fallen for him completely. She had carried that feeling all through her teenage years.

When their fathers sat them both down at twenty and twenty-three and proposed the marriage arrangement, Nathaniel had agreed without much expression.

His father wanted the union. William Brooks believed a stable marriage would ground Nathaniel before he took over the Brooks Group of Companies. Nathaniel was already being groomed as CEO and sole heir to everything his father had built. The marriage was part of the plan.

Lillian had agreed for an entirely different reason. She had simply loved him. She dropped out of nursing school in her second year to be his wife and take care of him.

She heard his footsteps and she turned from the table with a small smile on her face.

“Nathaniel,” she called out. “You’re just in time. I made—”

She stopped when he appeared in the doorway. He was in his work clothes. Dark trousers, a white shirt, and his jacket folded over one arm. He looked exactly the same as he did every evening. Handsome in the way that had first made her heart race when she was a teenager. But his face was different tonight.

He was not alone. An older man she did not know followed two steps behind him, carrying a briefcase.

“Who is that?” Lillian asked.

Nathaniel did not answer her right away. He set his jacket down on the chair and looked at her with an expression she could not read.

“Sit down, Lillian,” he said.

“I asked you who that is.”

“His name is Mr. Briggs,” Nathaniel said. “He is a lawyer.”

She looked at the man called Mr. Briggs, then back at Nathaniel. “Why is there a lawyer in our house?”

Nathaniel stepped fully into the dining room. He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a folded envelope. He set it on the table in front of her.

“What is that?” she asked, even though part of her already knew.

“Read it,” he said.

She did not move. “Nathaniel. Tell me what that is.” she insisted.

“Divorce papers,” he said simply.

The word broke her heart into several pieces. She stood very still. The dining room felt like it had shifted slightly, like the floor had moved an inch to the left and everything was slightly wrong now.

“You are joking, right?” she said.

“Do I look like I'm joking,” he said.

She looked at his face carefully, searching for some sign that this was some kind of prank but sadly she found nothing.

“Nathaniel.” Her voice dropped. “We can talk about this. Whatever I did or whatever happened between us, we can—”

“There is nothing to talk about,” he said.

“There is always something to talk about.” She stepped closer to him. “We have been married for three years. You do not end that with an envelope.”

He stepped back slightly. “You will have the estate and a monthly allowance if you sign the papers.”

“I do not care about the estate,” she said. Her voice was rising now and she could not stop it. “I care about us. I care about this marriage. Do you not care about any of it?”

He straightened up. “I am not in love with you, Lillian. I was never in love with you. The only reason we got married was because of the contract agreement between our parents.”

Lilian had always known he didn't love her. His heart belonged to another woman.

She had caught him with Vanessa Clarke eight months into their marriage. She had come home early from visiting her mother and found Vanessa’s heels at the foot of their staircase.

She had stood outside their bedroom door and listened and then walked downstairs and sat in the kitchen until Vanessa left.

When she finally confronted Nathaniel about it, he looked at her with complete calm and said, “Say another word and I will file for divorce tomorrow.”

She had said nothing. She had swallowed it whole and told herself he would change. Although Vanessa was not the only lady. There had been others. But Vanessa was the one who kept coming back.

Lillian heard herself breathe. She heard the faint sound of the city outside, distant and indifferent.

“Mr. Briggs,” she said, looking at the lawyer who had stood silently by the wall the entire time. “You can leave now.”

The man glanced at Nathaniel, who gave a small nod. Mr. Briggs collected his briefcase and walked out of the dining room without a word.

When they were alone, Lillian looked at Nathaniel one more time. “Nathaniel please,” she said and her voice broke on his name. 

She crossed the dining room toward him and dropped to her knees right there on the cold marble floor, her hands grabbing the hem of his trousers. 

“Please. Just give me a chance. Give us a chance. I will do whatever you want. I will change whatever you need me to change. Just don’t do this.”

He looked down at her on the floor at his feet, and his expression did not change.

He simply stepped forward and walked right past her like she was not there. “Sign the papers,” he said from the doorway. “I’m getting married to Vanessa Clarke next week.”

The words did not just break something in her. They erased it completely.

She heard his footsteps move through the hallway. She heard the front door open and close behind him.

Then slowly, without meaning to, she sank down onto the cold marble floor.