03
The server told Liam exactly what I’d said.
Liam’s face darkened. The other guests,
sensing the shift in mood, quickly tried to
く
reassure him. “Maybe Mrs. Walker isn’t
feeling well, that’s all. Women get like that
sometimes. You just gotta humor them, Mr.
Walker.”
“Women like to be coddled, maybe you
should go and try to cheer her up?”
Liam’s heart softened at those words. He and
Chloe had been friends since they were kids;
nobody understood her better than he did.
He’d just told Chloe to back off with
Seraphina, and then, to appease Seraphina,
had said that he would see her tonight.
That was a wrong move.
It was Chloe’s birthday, he should have been
with her tonight. He’d misspoke.
く
With this thought, Liam turned to the server.
“Was she crying?”
Chloe had always been a crybaby. She’d cry
when she was sad, cry when she was happy,
cry even at a sad movie. She was sensitive, a
fragile little flower. He figured she must be
upset by his words and had gone outside to
cry.
Liam felt a twinge of guilt. Chloe was his
wife, it was her birthday, he shouldn’t have let Seraphina get to him like that.
He should apologize.
As he was thinking, the server shook his
head. “No, she wasn’t. She looked happy, she was smiling.”
<
Liam frowned, surprised by the answer. But a
moment later, his expression turned cold, his voice sharp and icy. “Then what’s the deal?
She’s acting like a kid, she’s being silly. If she
doesn’t want to come back, so be it.”
The guests exchanged worried glances, not
daring to say anything else. They simply
waited.
One hour passed, then two, then three, and
Chloe still hadn’t returned.
Liam’s face was grim as he went out to the
garden.
The matriarch of the Walker family, a society
wife, was throwing a tantrum because of a
mistress. How undignified, how immature. She
was giving the guests a show. When he saw
<
her, he was going to let her have it.
But when he arrived, the garden was
completely empty.
The rain drizzled down. By the trash can,
there was a burnt cigarette butt and a ring.
Liam’s heart skipped a beat.
The ring was the simple silver one he had
used to propose. Over the years, he’d bought
Chloe countless jewels, but she’d always
been partial to that one. She treasured it like
gold.
And now, she had tossed it in the trash.
She didn’t want it anymore.
<
The wind picked up and the rain began to
soak through Liam’s shirt. He felt a chill, and
a growing sense of dread wash over him-
Chloe wasn’t coming back.
