Axel POV:
Emerson's parents exchanged another glance, a flicker of uncertainty in their eyes, as if my shock was contagious. Then, her mother placed a gentle hand on her father's arm.
"Axel," her mother said, her voice soft but firm, "Emerson filed the papers weeks ago. The divorce is final."
My ears roared. A deafening silence enveloped me. Divorced. Final. The words echoed in my head, meaningless, impossible. My world, which had been slowly unraveling, now shattered completely.
"Where is she?" I demanded, my voice hoarse, a desperate plea. "I need to see her."
They just shook their heads, their faces unyielding. "We don't know, Axel. She left."
I stumbled out of the house, the cold night air biting at my skin. Divorced. It couldn't be. She loved me. She had to. She was just playing a game, a cruel, elaborate game to punish me. She would come back. She always did.
I remembered her joyous smile on our wedding day, her hand trembling in mine. Her tears of gratitude when I stepped in front of that truck, saving her life. Those weren't tears of manipulation. They were real. They were for me.
She still loved me. She had to. She was just hurting. And I would make it right. I would find her, and I would beg for her forgiveness. I would promise her the world.
"Find her!" I roared into my phone, my voice thick with desperation. "I want every resource, every contact. Find Emerson Boone. Now! I want her found within the hour!"
Just then, my personal assistant's voice, hesitant, broke through the line. "Mr. Flynn, the housekeeper just called. She found a package in your study. She thinks it might be... the divorce certificate."
The phone slipped from my trembling fingers, crashing to the pavement, shattering into a million pieces. Just like my heart.
The package. It had been sitting on my desk for weeks, gathering dust. I had dismissed it, ignored it. Another one of Emerson's "tantrums," I thought. Another one of her attempts to get my attention.
I rushed back to the penthouse, my heart pounding in my chest. I stared at the package, a brown envelope, unassuming, yet holding the power to destroy me. My breath hitched. My hands trembled. I couldn't open it. I was terrified.
But I had to.
I tore it open, my fingers fumbling. A flash of vibrant red. Three bold, gold-embossed words stared back at me: DIVORCE DECREE.
My mind raced. When? When had I signed this? I remembered a pile of papers, Alicia rushing me, a vague sense of annoyance. I had signed it without looking. Dismissed it. Dismissed her.
Emerson. She had told me. She had explicitly told me. "I want a divorce." I had brushed it off. "Go take a bath." "You're just upset."
The full weight of my cruelty, my dismissiveness, my monumental blindness, crashed down on me. I had seen her pain as petulance, her pleas as weakness. I had mistaken her resilience for indifference, her courage for defiance.
I remembered her face at the studio launch, her wide, horrified eyes when Alicia had stolen her company. The way she had been dragged, screaming, into the isolation room. Her trembling body when she was thrown at Alicia's feet. Her despair when I chose Alicia, again and again.
My chest constricted, a searing pain. I clutched the divorce decree, my knuckles white. I sank to my knees, gasping for air, the world spinning around me. The pain was unbearable.
Alicia, drawn by the commotion, entered the study. She saw me, crumpled on the floor, the divorce decree clutched in my hand. Her eyes widened, then filled with a triumphant glee.
"Oh, Axel," she said, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "She finally let you go. It's for the best, darling. She was never right for you." She looked at the divorce decree, a satisfied smirk on her face. "Now, we can finally be together, like we always planned." She knelt beside me, her hand reaching out. "Axel, darling. Do you love me now? Can we finally..."
I recoiled, pushing her away with a violent shove. "No!" The word ripped from my throat, raw and guttural. "Get away from me!"
I stared at her, her face contorted in a mask of shock and hurt. But my mind was clear now. The fog had lifted. The scales had fallen from my eyes.
Emerson. Her face, vibrant and alive, flashed before me. Her laughter, her fierce spirit, her unwavering loyalty to her team. The way she had looked at me, with such hope, such love, on our wedding day. The way she had tried to save me from myself.
"You love her, don't you?" Alicia shrieked, her voice cracking, her eyes wild. "You fell in love with her! After everything I sacrificed for you!"
A sudden, overwhelming clarity washed over me. A profound, undeniable truth.
Yes. I loved her. I had loved her all along. I just hadn't realized it until she was gone. Until I had destroyed everything.
A bitter, broken laugh escaped my lips. I finally understood. I finally saw. My heart, once a cold, impenetrable fortress, was now a gaping wound, bleeding for the woman I had driven away. The woman I had, unknowingly, loved with a possessive, destructive ferocity.
Emerson. My Emerson.
I had to find her. I had to beg for her forgiveness. I had to make her see.
I rushed out of the study, ignoring Alicia's desperate cries. The rain, cold and relentless, lashed against my face. I didn't care. I just ran. Ran towards the woman I had just lost. Ran towards the love I had belatedly, painfully, tragically discovered.
But when I reached her apartment building, my heart stopped. She wasn't alone.
On the balcony, bathed in the soft glow of fairy lights, Emerson was laughing. A genuine, uninhibited laugh, something I hadn't heard from her in months. And beside her, a man. A kind-faced man, his arm casually draped around her, their heads close together as they prepared food on a sizzling grill. They looked happy. More than happy. They looked... like a family.
My chest constricted, a jealous agony unlike anything I had ever known. I wanted to scream. I wanted to tear him away from her. I wanted to reclaim what was mine.
