When he saw the red marks on my neck, he frowned instinctively, a flash of something like concern crossing his eyes.
"I didn't come pick you up from the hospital because something came up."
"Don't take those banquet hall jobs anymore. Haven't you embarrassed me enough?"
"I was just teaching you a lesson. After all these years, how have you still not shaken off that cheap, desperate look?"
So he had recognized me that night after all. He'd just pretended not to know me.
Because he was afraid I'd embarrass him.
He'd rattled off all those sentences, and not a single one asked if I was okay.
Even though I'd already let go of any expectations I had of him, the ache in my chest was impossible to ignore.
Maybe because he thought everything was settled between us, he felt even more free to say whatever he wanted.
I nodded, shifting aside without much care to let them in.
But the next second, my phone rang. It was the hospital.
"Your grandfather's treatment requires an additional payment. Please settle the balance as soon as possible."
Zoe saw her chance. She hooked her arm through Seth's and grabbed the crystal ball from the delivery box, hurling it to the floor.
"You should know by now that Seth and I are getting married. Did you really think a cheap little gift like this would help you cling to him any longer?"
"Your marriage to Seth was never anything more than a scheme to repay a debt."
"You'd better start familiarizing yourself with the wedding program. Seth and I will need you to emcee the ceremony."
"Do this one thing right, and I'll make sure your grandfather gets the help he needs."
Seth instinctively pulled his arm, a half-hearted resistance, but he said nothing. He let it happen.
Zoe tossed a thick stack of wedding planning brochures into my arms.
I opened them. Every page was dripping with luxury, every detail meticulously planned. My fingertips went cold.
I thought of my own wedding to Seth.
A handful of guests. Bare-bones. Barely a ceremony at all.
Not a single one of Seth's friends or family had shown up. It had been just the two of us in that church, exchanging vows in a ceremony so simple it barely qualified as one.
Back then, I'd been naive enough to believe he truly loved me, that he was genuinely too busy with work to do more.
Even though I'd handled every detail of the wedding on my own, I'd still felt happy.
But now, staring at these pages, the realization cut through me with perfect clarity.
Seth had always been capable of patience. He'd simply never spent any of it on me.
I took the brochures with steady hands, my voice scraping out rough and dry.
"Fine. I understand."
"I hope you keep your word."
Then I turned to Seth and added one last thing.
"Since that's how things are, let's get a divorce. Make room for your new bride."
Seth looked at me with a flicker of surprise, as if my calm compliance had caught him off guard. But he didn't dwell on it. In his mind, this had been the arrangement all along. There was nothing left to explain.
"That's a good girl. Just do your job as Mrs. Vance."
"Once I've had my fill, I'll come back to you. Naturally."
"Use this time to learn how things work in high society. Stop embarrassing me."
Whether it was deliberate or simply instinct, Seth brushed right past what I'd said about the divorce.
He was so certain I couldn't leave him. So certain I loved him too much. He took everything I gave him as though it were owed, and he enjoyed it without a second thought.
So he ignored everything I felt.
It had always been like this. I loved him too much, and he'd turned my devotion into something he was entitled to.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Because I was about to leave him.
Zoe shot me a triumphant look, one eyebrow arched, and followed Seth into the bedroom. Within moments, muffled sounds drifted through the door, unmistakable and intimate.
Seth's voice came again, low and breathless, and my feet froze to the floor as if nailed there.
