All Chapters of I Want A Divorce: Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

DARIUSI stared at my phone for ten minutes before finally typing out the message.Me: (Good seeing you today.) Simple. Casual. Nothing that would make her feel pressured or overwhelmed.I hit send before I could overthink it further, then immediately regretted every word choice. Too forward? Not forward enough? Should I have just left it alone?My phone sat on my desk mocking me with its silence while I tried to focus on the merger contracts spread across my workspace. The words blurred together into meaningless legal jargon that my brain refused to process.Twenty minutes later, my phone buzzed.Sera: (You too.) Two words. Polite but distant, the same careful space she'd been maintaining since the cruise. Not cold exactly, but not warm either. Just... neutral.I typed out three different responses and deleted them all. Asking how she was felt too personal. Mentioning Luna felt too transactional. Everything I came up with sounded wrong.Finally I just set the phone down and tried t

SERAThe second play date Sophie and Luna had agreed on was a trip to the aquarium, it was my last week with Luna seeing she would be spending Christmas with her grandmother...i couldn't say no to her. The aquarium was packed with families taking advantage of the weekend, children's voices echoing off the high ceilings as they pressed their faces against glass tanks filled with impossible colors and strange creatures that looked like they belonged in dreams rather than reality.Luna grabbed my hand the moment we walked through the entrance, her eyes wide with wonder at the massive tank dominating the lobby. Schools of silver fish moved in synchronized patterns while a sea turtle drifted past with ancient, unhurried grace."Mommy, look!" She pointed at everything at once, her excitement making her bounce on her toes.Sophie stood beside her father with more restraint, but I caught the way her eyes tracked the turtle's movement, the slight curve of her lips that suggested she was just

DARIUSMy house felt like a cage.Vivienne had gone to her mother's for Christmas, leaving behind the cloying scent of her perfume and a silence that pressed against my chest like a physical weight. I'd tried working from home, tried watching television, tried anything to distract myself from the truth sitting in my desk drawer and the engagement ring that felt heavier every day.Eventually I just got in my car and drove.No destination in mind. Just movement, the city lights blurring past while my thoughts circled the same tired patterns. The hotel employee's confession. Sera's distance. Vivienne. Everything I'd destroyed and couldn't figure out how to fix.Forty minutes passed before I realized where I was.Parked across the street from Sera's apartment building like some pathetic stalker who couldn't stay away. I gripped the steering wheel hard, telling myself to leave, to stop doing this to both of us.Then her door opened.Sera stumbled out, moving wrong—too slow, too unsteady, o

SERAChristmas morning arrived with the kind of silence that hurt.No small body launching onto my bed at dawn. No excited squeals about Santa and presents and cookies left half-eaten on a plate. No Luna's voice high with wonder as she tore through wrapping paper too beautiful to destroy but too exciting not to.Just quiet. Just me. Just the ghost of family traditions we'd built together over five Christmases that now felt like they belonged to someone else's life.I stayed in bed longer than I should have, staring at the ceiling and trying to convince myself to get up. To make coffee. To pretend this was just another day instead of the holiday that was supposed to be about family and joy and all the things I'd never quite managed to hold onto.When I finally made it to the kitchen, my phone was already lit up with messages.Johnson had texted at eight in the morning: (Merry Christmas! Mom's making her famous prime rib for dinner. We'd love to have you. No pressure, but the invitation

SERA My phone buzzed for the third time that day with Darius's name lighting up the screen. I didn't look at it. Hadn't looked at any of his messages since New Year's Day when he'd stood in my pantry and said the words that had been breaking and remaking me for the past two days. I believe you. I know you didn't cheat on me. The words played on repeat in my head no matter how hard I tried to silence them. A year too late. A marriage too destroyed. A heart too scarred to know what to do with absolution I'd stopped hoping for. Tomorrow I'd be wheeled into surgery to give a piece of myself to Monica Smith. Today I couldn't process Darius Blackwood's confession and major surgery at the same time. So his texts went unanswered and I focused on packing Luna's bag for the month she'd spend with her father. "Mommy, can I bring all my stuffed animals?" Luna held up her favorite rabbit and the new bear Mary had given her for Christmas. "Daddy always likes to name the new ones." "You can