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Chapter 4

Alyssa’s Pov

The silence inside the house felt unbearable. I sat on the floor of the living room with my back against the sofa, and my knees pulled close to my chest as tears continued falling down my face. I had no idea how long I had been sitting there.

Minutes passed, then hours, but I stopped caring about how much time had gone by. Everything around me felt distant and unreal. The only thing I knew was that I had left before anyone else could see me fall apart.

The moment I saw Priya smile at me, something inside me told me that I could not stay there for another second. I knew I could not listen to explanations that would only hurt me more.

So, I did not ask Nathaniel for answers. Instead, I left.

My hands trembled as I covered my face, trying to hold myself together. I had always believed that I was strong enough to handle anything life placed in front of me.

But nothing had prepared me for this. Nothing had prepared me for the pain of discovering that the two people I trusted the most would become the reason I was hurting.

Everything I had spent years believing in had been shaken in one night, and I no longer knew what was real.

A broken sob escaped from my lips before I could stop it. I immediately pressed my hand against my mouth because I didn’t want anyone to hear the sound of my pain.

There was no one around me, I knew that. Yet some part of me was scared of being seen this way. They had both betrayed me.

I moved my fingers slowly toward my wedding ring, and stared at it through the tears that blurred my vision.

The ring was still there. It remained on my finger, carrying the meaning it had held for seven years. It represented promises, memories, and a future I had once believed was certain. Yet now, I could barely understand what it truly meant.

My breathing became uneven as the reality of everything settled over me. I lowered my hand slowly, as I brushed my thumb against the ring one last time. I was not ready to take it off.

Some part of me still held on to hope. It refused to believe that everything I had built with Nathaniel could be destroyed so suddenly. I wanted him to look at me and assure me that seven years of our life together had not been meaningless.

The sound of the front door unlocking pulled me away from my thoughts as my entire body went still. It was Nathaniel.

He was home.

For a moment, I could not move. Slowly, I pushed myself up from the floor. My legs felt unsteady beneath me, but I forced myself to stand. I quickly wiped my face, trying to erase every sign that I had been crying.

But I knew it would not work.

My eyes were swollen from tears and my face had lost its color. My hands were still shaking despite my attempts to control them.

The door opened, and Nathaniel stepped inside. He looked exactly the way he had when I saw him at the restaurant.

Then his eyes found me.

For the briefest moment, his expression changed. He didn’t look surprised.

I waited for him to walk towards me, apologize, and to tell me that there had been some terrible mistake.

But he did none of those things. Instead, he walked further into the house, placed his keys on the table, and released a tired sigh.

Then, he looked at me. “Alyssa.”

Hearing my name leave his lips hurt more than I expected. There was no warmth behind it. “I know this is not how you should have found out,” Nathaniel said quietly.

I looked at him without speaking. The tears threatening to fall from my eyes burned, but I refused to let them escape.

“I wanted to tell you myself,” he continued.

I lifted my brows slightly as I stared at him. “You wanted to tell me?”

The words came out of my mouth, but my own voice sounded unfamiliar to me. He looked away for a moment before answering.

“Yes.”

I continued watching him, waiting for something that would make sense.

My chest tightened at the thought. “When exactly were you planning to tell me?” I asked.

He did not answer immediately. I watched in pain as the silence between us grew heavier with every passing second. I did not need him to say anything because his hesitation had already given me the answer I was afraid to hear.

I swallowed hard, forcing myself to remain standing even though everything inside me wanted to collapse.

Finally, he spoke. “When things were settled.”

I stared at him, studying his face carefully, searching for any sign that he understood what he had done. For even the smallest indication that he was terrified of losing me.

But there was nothing.

Nathaniel looked like a man having a difficult conversation he had already prepared himself to have. He looked controlled, composed, and strangely certain that he could explain everything away.

My heart sank. “You knew,” I whispered. His eyes shifted back to mine. “You knew there was no marriage certificate.”

For a moment, he said nothing. And that brief hesitation hurt more than any confession could have. “You knew,” I repeated, my voice quieter this time.

“Alyssa—”

“No.” I interrupted him before he could continue. My voice grew stronger as the pain I had been trying to contain pushed its way through. “You knew.”

Nathaniel ran a hand through his hair, his frustration finally showing slightly. “It was complicated.”

A small, humorless laugh escaped from my lips. I could not believe those were the words he chose. The word felt too simple for the damage he had caused. “Complicated?”

I looked around the room, allowing my eyes to move over every corner of the place we had shared for years.

This was the room where we had celebrated birthdays together. The room where we stayed up late talking about our dreams and the future we wanted to build.

Meanwhile, the ring I wore represented every promise I believed we had made.

My tears fell silently as I stared at it, realizing that the meaning I had attached to it had only existed because I believed in it.

With trembling fingers, I slowly removed it from my hand.

Nathaniel watched as I did.

For the first time that night, something in his expression changed. Relief. It was brief, but I saw it.

I held the ring tightly in my palm, staring down at the piece of jewelry. I studied it one last time. Then, slowly and carefully, I slid it back onto my finger.

My hands trembled as I did it, and tears continued falling silently down my face. I could feel the weight of the decision I was making, even though Nathaniel had no idea what was happening inside my mind.

His eyebrows pulled together in confusion as he watched me. “Alyssa?”

I wiped my tears quickly with shaky hands before forcing myself to meet his eyes. I had to control my expression. And hide the pain that was still tearing through me.

I twisted my lips into a small smile. “I understand.”

The moment those words left my mouth, I saw his body get tense. For the first time since he walked through the door, Nathaniel looked uncomfortable. As if my acceptance had been a burden on his shoulders. But then what he said next broke me.

“Thank you.”

I stared at him. Those were the words he chose. And with that, he turned away from me and walked toward the stairs.

I remained standing in the room long after he disappeared upstairs. With my fingers closed tightly around the ring, feeling the familiar shape against my skin. The tears continued falling, but something inside me had changed.

For the first time since I walked out of that restaurant, I stopped trying to understand the reason for his actions and started questioning the truth I had been given.

I looked at the empty space in front of me, my voice barely above a whisper as the realization settled in. “If I was never your wife, then someone has been lying to me my entire life.”

I looked down at the ring still resting on my finger. “And I am going to find out who.”