All Chapters of The Ruin Marriage: Chapter 1 - Chapter 4

MAYAThe house was too quiet. It had been six months since the metal of the car crumpled like paper. Six months since the world I built out of lies fell apart in a spray of shattered glass and screaming tires. I was the one who survived. I was the one who woke up from the coma. But sometimes, when I look at the empty space in our bed or the way Liam looks at his phone, I think the wrong person died that night.Mark was gone. Sarah’s husband was buried in a cold plot of land on the edge of town. He died instantly. I, on the other hand, had drifted in a dark ocean of sleep for weeks. While I was sleeping, the truth was waking up. While I was unconscious, the doctors were telling Liam that his wife had been in a car with another man. They were telling him that we were traveling to a hotel two towns over. They were giving him my phone, filled with messages that proved I was not the woman he thought I was.I sat at the small kitchen table, staring at a cup of tea that had gone cold. My le

MAYAThe sun had gone down hours ago but the house felt colder than the air outside. I sat on the edge of the sofa with my hands gripped together. Every time a car drove down the street my heart jumped. I knew the conversation with Sarah would not stay a secret. She was too honest to hide it and Liam was too connected to her now.Lovely was sitting in the armchair across from me. She had stayed because she saw how much I was shaking. She had brought me a glass of water but I could not drink it. My throat felt like it was closing up."Maybe you should go to bed, Maya," Lovely said softly. "You are exhausted. You can talk to him tomorrow.""No," I said. "I can't sleep. If I close my eyes I just see Sarah’s face. I have to wait for him."At nearly midnight the headlights of Liam’s truck swept across the living room walls. The engine cut off and the silence that followed was terrifying. Then came the sound of the front door opening. It didn't just open. It hit the wall with a bang.Liam w