Thomas came home not long after I arrived.
"Marilyn, what's the point of humiliating me like that?"
My hand paused mid-pour, an indescribable ache surging through my chest.
"What about me?"
"Thomas, all these years you've paraded your women right out in the open. Have you ever once spared me any dignity?"
I closed my eyes, fighting to hold myself together.
But the tears still slipped down my cheeks, and my voice turned raw and choked.
"Alright, alright, babe. Seeing you cry makes my heart ache too."
"What man in our circle doesn't have a little fun on the side? It's all physical, nothing emotional. What's the point of getting jealous over them?"
"Don't worry—once I get bored with this one, I'll take a break for a while. Okay?"
Thomas pulled me close, wrapping his arms tightly around me.
He fell into his usual routine of soothing me, telling me I was his only wife, that none of those other women could ever take my place.
Before, that would have been enough to calm me down.
Not this time.
"Babe, has your belly gotten flatter?"
Thomas sensed something was off and bent down to touch my stomach.
I pulled away again.
"It's nothing. I skipped dinner."
He didn't question it. He just smiled and tapped my nose. "You're a grown woman, and you still get so jealous."
"Alright, I'll have Deidre Chavez make you something you like."
After Thomas left, my hand drifted to my flat stomach, trembling slightly.
The baby was already gone.
The night I saw Bernice at that bus stop, I'd already scheduled the procedure.
When I went to the police station to pay the fine, I had just gotten off the operating table.
A sharp ringtone shattered the silence.
I stared at the familiar number, my brow furrowing.
After a deep breath, I answered.
"Hello, Mom—"
It was Thomas's mother.
Before I could finish, a torrent of curses came crashing through.
"You just let Thomas's scandal sit on the trending page for three days? Do you have any idea how much damage this does to the company?"
"I don't care what you're thinking—get it taken down now!"
She hung up before I could say a word, seething with fury.
My marriage to Thomas had never been a match of equals, but his family couldn't overrule him.
Still, in seven years, I had never once earned the Delgados' approval.
I scrolled through my phone and called the PR firm we worked with, instructing them to bury the trending story.
"Oh, and those press releases I sent you—hold them for three days."
In three days, Thomas and I would go our separate ways.
The next morning, Thomas left early.
I knew where he was going. To pick up Bernice.
For the past two weeks, she'd been riding to work in his car.
That was why Thomas couldn't spare even a single hour to come with me to a prenatal checkup.
While he was at the office, I slipped out to meet some friends—and to say my goodbyes.
"This time it's real?"
"Marilyn, are you sure about this?"
They could hardly believe it. After all, I'd filed for divorce three times and taken him back every single time.
"I've already booked my flight home. I leave in three days."
I watched the foam dissolve slowly in my coffee cup, murmuring half to myself:
"I should have woken up a long time ago. He's not the same Thomas he was at eighteen."
Not the boy who kept soft candies in his pocket just to cheer me up. Not the one who defied his entire family for me.
Seven years. Everything had changed.
Only I had stayed frozen in place, clinging to a version of us that no longer existed.
