Chapter 1

Chapter 1Sera The words 'I'm getting married again' shouldn't have been able to break a heart that had already shattered two years ago.When your husband tells you he’s getting married again the best thing you can do for yourself isn’t to cry. But I stooped lower than that. Julian walked in without looking at me. He set a thick folder down on the table hard enough. Then he dropped a glossy press sheet right on top of it. “Sign it,” he said. “Now.”I looked at the folder. Then I looked at him. His tie was perfect. His shirt was the kind of white that never wrinkled. His face was the same closed-off mask he had worn every day for three years. “I see,” I said.He waited. I could feel him waiting for the tears or the shouting or the usual desperate questions. I did not give him any of them. I reached for the folder, opened it, and flipped through the pages. Divorce decree. Settlement offer. Non-disclosure. Everything already filled in with my name in neat black print. At the bottom

Last Updated : 2026-09-16

Chapter 2

Chapter 2Sera I was still in the sitting room when the front doors slammed open hard enough to rattle the glass. Victoria Vance did not wait for the staff to announce her. She never did when I was the one she wanted. She swept in with Evelyn Cross right behind her, both of them already talking at full volume like they owned every inch of the house and I was the only thing standing in the way of a clean exit.Victoria’s voice hit me first. “There she is. Still sitting around like she belongs here. Did you think that little stunt at breakfast would keep you in this family, Seraphina? Did you actually believe my son would fall for whatever game you are playing now?”I wondered if Julian talked to them about it. That’s out of question anyway. Right now I'm in deep trouble. Evelyn stayed half a step behind her, smiling that soft public smile that never reached her eyes. She carried a small designer bag like she had already started packing things that were not hers. I stood up slowly.

Last Updated : 2026-09-16

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Sera I woke up with my cheek throbbing and the taste of blood still in the corner of my mouth. The mirror in the bathroom showed the bruise already turning dark along the bone, purple and ugly under the skin. I pressed a cold cloth against it and stared at my own reflection until the sting settled into something I could ignore. Victoria had put her full weight behind that slap. Julian had stood there and watched it happen. Then he had followed me upstairs like the amendment required and slept on the far side of the bed without saying a word. When I came out of the bathroom he was already dressed for the office, standing by the window with his phone in his hand.**I had been in the dressing room for almost an hour, pretending to sort through the clothes Victoria had left for me. Folding the same dull silk blouse again and again, straightening hangers that did not need straightening, anything to keep my hands busy so the tears from yesterday would stay where they belonge

Last Updated : 2026-09-16

Chapter 4

Chapter 4SeraI chose the cafe three neighborhoods away from anything connected to the Vance name. The place was small and half empty, the kind of spot where no one looked twice at two women talking over coffee that had gone cold. Nadia was already there when I walked in, same sharp eyes and same impatient way of tapping her spoon against the saucer. She stood up, hugged me once, then sat back down and stared at the faint bruise still visible under my makeup.“You look like hell,” she said. “And you are still doing this. I told you playing house with that man for thirty days is a bad idea. It is lethal, Sera. He is not going to fall in love and change his mind. He is going to use the time to dig into every corner of your life and then discard you the same way he planned to from the start.”I pulled the small leather notebook from my bag and opened it to the calendar pages I had marked in red. “I am tracking everything. Cycle dates, optimal windows, the whole thing. I only need one s

Last Updated : 2026-09-16

All Chapters of Thirty Days Before I leave: Chapter 1 - Chapter 4

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4