and cold beds. We were still married, but we

years and three months after our wedding. But the foundation

o the phone, begging him to come to me. But he didn't answer. I later found out his grandmo

a child I had never met, while my husband was nowhere to be found... it changed me. It hardened my heart. I buried

nside was a divorce petition, fully drafted. Attached to it was a sticky note in the grandmother's elegant, cruel handwriting: *"I have the

he Brooks family had finally found my weak spot.

fee table. I planned to tell Stellin. But the clock ticked, and my phon

door. No stamp. No return address. Just my name scrawled

ide him, draped in a slinky red dress, was Ara Finch. Stellin's hand was on the sma

e text message played on a loop in my

er. He took h

right. Maybe I was just a

ting for the front door to open. It was nearly three in the morning when Stellin walk

said. He looke

u?" My voice s

d you.

rd him. Without a word, I slapped

The color drained from his face

shaking. "You told me you were w

e, it'

broken sound. "God, Stellin, don't use that cliché o

d, his eyes flashing. "Millie,

eamed, the tears finally

at the photo, then looked at me, and for a sp

ation shat

omplicated," he

that I have spent two years letting your family call me a gold digger

ease. Let m

my chest, trying to hold my hea

in the air, h

I heard Stellin slide down to the floor, his back against the wood. And t

*

documents sat on the mahogany table betwe

eriod is mandatory by law

papers, Stellin

en. His hand trembled. He sig

d me into the elevator, begging. "Don't throw away two years because

fix the fact that

k underground parking garage. The air

you!" Stellin sh

ought my ribs might crack. I turned aro

rds died o

hts flared to life at the end of the aisle, blinding me. A massive bla

Stellin

sessed. He threw his body against mine, wrapping hi

like a bomb going off. Pain exploded in my

g of glass. The last thing I felt was Stellin's arms wrapped tightly aroun

you, Mrs

mind, fading into a cru