Helene Richard POV:
The echo of the slamming door reverberated through the empty penthouse, leaving me in a chilling silence. My head throbbed, a dull, insistent ache behind my right ear. I pushed myself up, my fingers touching the damp stickiness at the back of my skull. Blood. Just a little, but enough to make the room spin.
Garrett was gone again. Always gone. He believed that if he left, the problem would simply disappear. That his actions would be forgotten, like a bad dream. But this time, I wouldn't let it disappear. This time, I wouldn't forget.
I sank onto the velvet sofa, my gaze fixed on the spot where the divorce papers still lay, untouched by his hand. He hadn' t even bothered to pick them up. It was just like him, to disdain even the paperwork of his own undoing.
A wave of nausea washed over me, not just from the blow to my head, but from the memories that flooded my mind. Garrett. The public adored him. He was the charming scion, the philanthropic playboy, the face of American ambition. They didn't see the man who stood over me, his eyes cold and threatening. They didn't see the man who had slowly, methodically, chipped away at my soul.
I remembered the beginning. He had been a whirlwind of grand gestures. Flowers delivered daily to the newsroom, private jets to romantic getaways, whispered promises of forever under glittering constellations. He' d swept me off my feet, a humble girl from the Midwest, new to the cutthroat world of New York media. He was my prince, my savior from the crushing weight of my family' s medical bills, a burden I carried silently.
He'd even come to my parent' s modest home, charming my ailing mother and my stoic father. He looked at me, his eyes full of what I thought was adoration, as he promised to take care of everything. He said he loved my ambition, my drive. He said I was different, real.
"You're not like those other women," he'd murmured, his breath warm against my ear during one of our early, passionate nights. "You have substance, Helene. You have a future."
And then, the proposal. On live television, during a charity gala I was hosting. He dropped to one knee, a diamond the size of a pigeon' s egg sparkling in his hand, a million cameras flashing. "Helene Richard," he'd boomed, his voice echoing through the ballroom, "will you marry me and make me the happiest man alive?" The crowd erupted. I was enveloped in a fairytale. I truly believed in happily ever after.
How naive I had been. That night, lying bruised and discarded on my own sofa, the fairytale felt like a twisted joke. The vows, the promises – they were just words, tools for him to maintain his carefully constructed image.
The infidelities started slowly. A late-night text, a faint perfume on his collar, a vague excuse about "business trips." I confronted him once, tears streaming down my face. He laughed, a short, sharp bark.
"Don't be ridiculous, Helene," he'd said, brushing a tear from my cheek with a surprisingly gentle touch, "it's just business. You know how these things are. You' re my wife. You' re GNN' s star anchor. We have an image to uphold."
Then Celsa stepped in, her presence a cold shadow. "Helene," she' d said, her voice devoid of warmth, "you knew what you were marrying into. The Wises don't divorce. We manage." She' d laid out the terms, unspoken yet crystal clear. My job was to maintain the façade, to be the perfect, understanding wife. In return, the Wise family would ensure my family's financial security, handle my mother' s escalating medical costs, and guarantee my position at GNN. It was a transaction. My love, my dignity, for their money and power.
I was a fool. I had clung to the hope that a small part of that initial charm, that fleeting tenderness, was real. That the man who had supported my career, who had bought my mother the best medical care, still existed beneath the layers of entitlement and deceit. But tonight, that hope had finally died. Not even a whimper. It was simply gone.
A bitter, humorless laugh escaped me. How pathetic. To be so broken, so stripped of every illusion, and still feel nothing but this hollow ache.
Suddenly, the door creaked open. Kellen. My son. His small, seven-year-old face peeked around the corner. My heart clenched, a familiar pain. He hadn't been home when Garrett and I were fighting. He must have just returned with his nanny.
He saw me on the sofa, clutching my head. His eyes, Garrett's eyes, held no concern. Only a cold, detached curiosity.
"Mama," he said, his voice flat. "Why are you always so sad? Daphne says happy people get what they want." He held up a small, brightly colored drawing. It was a picture of Daphne, smiling, holding Kellen's hand. I was nowhere in it.
The words, so casually delivered, were a fresh stab. He had been so systematically turned against me. By Celsa. By Daphne. He' d become their puppet, their innocent weapon.
"Go to your room, Kellen," I managed, my voice raw.
He didn't move. He just stared, his young face mirroring the disdain I saw in Celsa's eyes. "Daphne says you' re a bad mommy. She says you make Daddy sad."
My breath hitched. My own son. My own flesh and blood. Twisted into this cruel caricature. The tears I couldn't shed for myself, for my ruined marriage, for my broken heart, still wouldn't come. My emotional well had run dry.
Just then, my phone buzzed again. A text. From the hospital. Your mother passed peacefully at 11:47 PM.
The words swam before my eyes. My mother. Gone. The last tether to my former life, to the reason I had endured all this, severed.
I stared at Kellen, at his small, innocent-yet-cruel face. At the drawing of Daphne and him, so bright, so full of the happiness I no longer possessed. My vision blurred, not with tears, but with a sudden, overwhelming emptiness. The world felt like it was closing in, air thin, walls pressing. A thought, dark and seductive, whispered in my mind. What if I just... stopped? What if I just disappeared?
The idea wasn't about ending my life. It was about ending this life. This charade. This constant, suffocating pain. And a new kind of resolve, colder and more dangerous than before, began to form.
