All Chapters of Excuse Me, I’m Leaving for a Future Without You: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

When there was no movement at the door for quite some time, Graham Whitlock finally set down the documents in his hand and walked out of the study.The moment he saw me, he reacted just like Mara Collins had, staring at me in shock and stumbling over his words.“Audrey, why did you suddenly...?”I let out a quiet sigh and cut him off.“I’m tired. I’d like to come inside and sit down before we talk.”“Should I get you some slippers?”Mara finally snapped out of her daze. She hurried to the shoe cabinet, pulled out a pair of women’s slippers, and handed them to me.They were half a size too big.They were her size.I said nothing. I slipped them on and sat down on the sofa in the living room.Mara took the little girl’s hand and forced a smile.“Mrs. Whitlock, you two talk.“Sophie, come on. Mommy’s taking you back to your room. Don’t disturb Daddy while he talks to someone.”I raised my eyes and glanced at her.She froze, seemingly realizing that something was wrong with t

“At the hotel.”I kept my reply brief.Graham immediately called me.“Audrey, Sophie got burned. She’s in the hospital now.“Go home and pack a few changes of clothes for me and Mara. And make some soup and a few dishes. Mara’s been busy all day and hasn’t eaten a thing. She can’t stomach the hospital food.”I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.Pressing my fingertips against my throbbing temples, I reminded him as calmly as I could,“Graham, I’m pregnant. The smell of cooking makes me sick.”There was a brief pause on the other end.Then Mara’s hesitant, tearful voice came through.“Graham, maybe don’t trouble Audrey. I’ll be strong. I’ll rest for a while and go home to cook for myself…”“With me here, what do you need to be strong for?”Graham hung up immediately.Another text came through.“Just bear with it for now.”“The house code is 0718. Room 1456. Bring Mara an extra blanket. The hospital keeps the air conditioning too cold, and I’m worried she’ll get cold.”

Graham felt something inside his head explode with a deafening buzz, leaving his mind completely blank.I lay there in a pool of blood, my face as pale as a sheet of paper.The doctor pressed both hands hard against my chest, performing CPR at a frantic pace, but I didn’t respond.The crowd instinctively parted, making way as the stretcher rushed past Graham. The wheels screeched against the floor as the nurse pushed me down the hallway.“Wait! Wait for me!”Graham stumbled after the stretcher, his legs moving almost on instinct.He practically sobbed as he grabbed a nurse by the arm, his voice shaking uncontrollably.“She’s my wife! How is she?“She was fine just now. How could she suddenly miscarry? How could this happen?”The nurse violently shook off his hand.She turned and glared at him, her eyes filled with anger and contempt.“What kind of husband are you? You didn’t even know your pregnant wife had fallen?“Look at her condition! She clearly hasn’t been taking prop

I paused, my gaze drifting past him toward the window.The relentless winds of Northreach whipped sand against the glass, never seeming to tire. They reminded me of the endless seven years I’d spent waiting for him.“For these seven years, I was your wife. I did everything a wife could reasonably be expected to do for you.“While you were stationed at Northreach with Mara and her daughter, you lived together as a family and even had the child calling you both Mom and Dad. It was like you were living as a second family. You cheated on me during our marriage and deliberately injured me. The evidence is undeniable.“I can choose not to press charges, but you’ll leave the marriage with nothing.”I paused, the dryness in my throat triggering a brief cough.“And what about everything I did for the Whitlock family? I handled the household, maintained your family relationships, and took care of your parents.“Before you left, your mother slipped and broke her leg on a rainy day. She was

I looked in that direction and met Mara’s venomous gaze.She looked like she wanted to lunge at me, but the police had her firmly restrained.“Sophie secretly borrowed a nurse’s phone a few days ago while Mara wasn’t around and called the police. She said her mother deliberately poured boiling water over her shoulder just to force Graham to come back.”Dad snorted and draped his coat over my shoulders, blocking my view of the scene.“Child abuse. The evidence is conclusive.“Sweetheart, don’t look. It’s not worth seeing. Let’s go home.”The car pulled away, leaving the shrill wail of the sirens far behind.When we returned to Westbridge City, everything looked just as it always had.My divorce from Graham had also been finalized, and I was finally beginning a new life.But my peaceful days lasted less than a week.That evening, I was on my way home from work when I spotted someone who should never have appeared there again.Graham had lost so much weight that he looked almos