02
Outside the ballroom, it had started to drizzle
<
I lit a cigarette. The swirling smoke made me
remember the day Liam proposed. It had been
raining that day too.
We’d met when we were three, fallen in love
at sixteen. When Liam had his first big win in
business at twenty–three, he got down on
one knee and asked me to marry him.
“Chloe, will you be my wife?” He was
kneeling in front of me, his hands trembling
so much he could barely hold the ring.
I looked down at him and asked, “Will you
always love me?”
He was confident and sure. “Forever.”
I believed him then, that he meant those
words.
<
But the heart is a fickle thing.
When I was twenty–seven, Liam took up with
a young, pretty girl. I confronted him, and he
cried and begged me not to divorce him,
swore he’d change.
But there was a first time, a second, a third, a
fourth… Until finally, he stopped hiding it, and
I stopped fighting it.
Like Seraphina.
Liam was giving her special treatment,
warning me for her sake, even threatening
- me. Three years ago, this would have
shattered my heart. Now? It just made me
tired, and a little sick to my stomach.
Because I knew better than anyone that Liam
would never divorce me for Seraphina. It had
L
nothing to do with feelings; we were too
intertwined financially, legally for divorce to
ever be worth the trouble.
He wouldn’t do it.
And he was sure I wouldn’t either.
After all, I’d threatened divorce more than
once over the years, but I never followed
through. At first, it was love. Then, it was
stubbornness.
But whatever the reason, I’d tolerated this for
so long. I should be used to this drama.
But this time, I was just done. I didn’t want to
play his games anymore.
The ash from my cigarette fell, burning my
<
fingertip.
Just then, a server approached me, reminding me, “Mrs. Walker, Mr. Walker says it’s time for you to come back and cut the cake.
Go back?
I snapped back to the present. A moment
later, I crushed my cigarette and gave the
man a small smile.
“Tell Liam I won’t be back.”
