"You said you'd owe me for the rest of your life!"
"You asked me to come explain things to your wife today, and I came!"
"But you're just going to stand there and let her bully me like this?"
"Julian!"
"Seven years ago, you made it so I can never be a mother!"
"Seven years later, you let your wife hit me!"
"Is this how you make it up to me?"
Althea's voice hit like a thunderclap, exploding right beside my ears. My chest tightened. I followed her gaze to Julian, whose face had gone white, and listened as he scrambled to explain.
"I didn't. I wouldn't—"
The tenderness in his eyes was almost too much to contain.
I'd been with Julian for seven years. Seven years, and I had never once seen him look this panicked. He didn't even bother with the bags in his hands. He went straight for Althea, and he didn't care that I was standing right there. He shoved past me so hard I stumbled.
I caught my balance just in time to hear him wrap his arms around Althea and murmur to her.
"I told you."
"I won't let anyone hurt you again."
"I made you a promise—" His voice carried straight to my ears, rattling every nerve in my body. "And I won't break it."
"Bridget."
Julian finally spared me a glance, lifting his head. The look in his eyes was something I'd never seen before. Cold. Foreign. Like I was a stranger.
"I'm the one who asked Althea to come talk to you. There's nothing going on between us."
"How long are you going to keep making a scene?"
"These seven years—" His voice turned to ice. "Everything you have, Althea paid for with half her life!"
"If it weren't for Althea—"
"You think you'd be living the life you have now?"
"You think—" Julian finally said it, the truth he'd been hiding. "That just because you're some princess, I'd spoil you rotten?"
"It was Althea!"
"Althea is the one who taught me how to love someone!"
"So—" He looked at me, his tone a command. "Apologize to her."
"You wouldn't have any of this!"
His words cut through me like shards of ice, straight into my heart. I'd been holding it together. Staying clearheaded. Fighting to keep my composure. But Julian's unconditional defense of another woman, his blind devotion to her, sent a wave of pain crashing through me so hard my knees nearly buckled. Even then, I didn't miss the smug, taunting look Althea shot my way.
Something inside me shifted.
It was laughable, really. So laughable that I was suddenly, deeply grateful. Grateful that the moment I recognized the mistake, I'd chosen to cut my losses. Grateful that I understood love shouldn't come with a hierarchy, with someone ranked above me, and that I'd chosen to walk away without hesitation.
I didn't need to be someone's stand-in. I didn't need to be a replacement.
Even if I'd poured my heart into this marriage for seven years.
"Julian."
I looked at him with a cold smile.
"You're out of your mind."
"You want me to apologize?" I pointed at the security camera I'd had installed just weeks ago, and I laughed. "In your dreams."
"But today—"
I pulled up the live feed on my phone. Without a second of hesitation, I opened the family group chat and told Julian:
"You and I are done. Completely."
I sent everything. Every single thing that had just happened. Althea's performance, Julian rushing to her side, the choice he'd made between the two of us. All of it went straight to the family elders.
"Don't bother trying to talk me out of it."
"After all—" My voice stayed level, but the burning behind my eyes betrayed me. "Julian and Althea have a life between them. A debt like that... who am I to get in the way?"
"One more thing."
I turned to Julian.
"The house is in my name."
"So—" I pointed at the front door. "Starting this very second."
"Get out of my house."
