A six–year mistake?” I laughed bitterly. “Alexander, listen to yourself. You’re not sorry you hur me. You’re just sorry you got caught.”
“That’s not true-”
“Then why didn’t you end it when I asked you to? Why didn’t you choose me when I begged you
to?”
Alexander’s mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air. Because we both knew the answer. When it mattered, when I needed him to fight for our marriage, he had chosen Victoria.
“Things are different now,” he said weakly.
“Yes, they are.” I took Marcus’s hand. “Now I’m with someone who actually wants to be with me.”
The gesture sent Alexander over the edge. His face went red with fury, and he lunged forward. But Marcus was ready. He caught Alexander’s arm and twisted it behind his back in one smooth
motion.
“I think you should leave,” Marcus said calmly, his voice carrying just a hint of warning.
Alexander struggled against his grip. “Let go of me!”
“Only if you promise to walk away and not come back,” Marcus replied.
“I’m not giving up on her!” Alexander shouted. “She’s my wife!”
“She’s your ex–wife,” Marcus corrected. “And she’s made her choice.”
Alexander’s eyes found mine over Marcus’s shoulder. They were wild, desperate, pleading.
“Lauren,” he whispered. “Don’t do this. Don’t throw away everything we built together.”
“You threw it away,” I said quietly. “When you chose her over me. When you made me feel invisible in my own home. When you made me believe I wasn’t worth fighting for.”
Something in my voice must have reached him because he stopped struggling. Marcus released his arm, but stayed close, ready to intervene if needed.
Alexander stood there for a moment, his chest heaving. Then, with a smile more painful than tears, he looked at me with bloodshot eyes.
“Ashlyn,” he said, using a pet name he hadn’t called me in years, “I honestly didn’t realize Victoria’s existence would hurt you this much. It was just… it started as one mistake, and bringing her into our lives was purely out of obligation.”
I stared at him, shocked by his casual dismissal of years of betrayal.
“Once the baby is born, I’ll send her abroad. Will that be enough?” he continued, as if he was offering to throw away a broken toy.
I shook my head firmly. “Michael,” I said, using his middle name the way I used to when we were young, “I don’t care what kind of relationship you have with Victoria. All you need to know is–l have a new life here now. I’m not going back with you. So please, just leave.”
He stared at me for a long moment, his face cycling through emotions–anger, desperation, disbelief, and finally, something that looked like acceptance.
“This isn’t over,” he said, but his voice lacked the fire it had before. He sounded tired, defeated.
“Yes, it is,” I replied gently.
CHAPTER 14
213
59.4%%%
3:55 am
Alexander looked between Marcus and me one more time, then turned and walked away. But
instead of leaving the property, he went to his car and drove it to the road across from the vineyard, parking under a cluster of trees where he thought we couldn’t see him.
But I could. From my bedroom window, I watched him sit there in his car, the glow of his phone screen illuminating his face in the darkness.
Late that night, I saw him again–this time standing outside on the balcony of the small inn across the street. A cigarette dangled between his fingers, burning dangerously close to his skin.
I watched as he brought his phone to his ear. His voice carried just enough for me to catch the broken edge of it.
“I’m not okay,” he said.
A pause.
‘I saw her with someone else and it… it hurts. Like I’m dying.”
I closed the curtains and turned away, but I couldn’t shake the image of Alexander standing
there in the dark, finally understanding what it felt like to lose someone you loved.
The problem was, he was still there. Still watching. Still refusing to let go.
And I had a feeling this was far from over.
