The slam of the bedroom door still echoed in my ears as I moved down the hallway. Each step felt heavier, though my chest was strangely lighter—as if setting down the divorce papers had carved a space inside me for air again.
I should have gone straight to the car. Straight out of the house that had become a mausoleum for my marriage. The walls no longer carried warmth, only shadows of what we used to be. But of course, fate had other plans. Lavinia was waiting for me. Not to comfort but to insult me in my own house. She leaned against the banister at the top of the stairs, her silk robe clinging to her body in that calculated way of hers. By the looks of it, she looked entertained.
“At last, the truth had set us free,” she said softly, almost like a condolence. “I was actually planning to tell you myself but look where the situation led us.” The sound of her voice ignited something sharp in my chest. She wasn’t even pretending to be discreet anymore.
“I hope you enjoy my leftovers, stepsis,” I snapped, glaring at her.
“Don’t look at me like that, Erin.” Her voice was honey over venom. “This is all your fault. Trevor deserves someone who excites him. You were never enough. Just accept the fact that you’re a loser.”
The words should have split me open. Maybe last week they would have. Tonight, they only forged steel in my spine. I turned to her, my voice quiet but lethal. “Then congratulations, Lavinia. I hope he'll make you and your baby happy.”
Her smirk flickered, faltered for just a beat. That was enough for me to take. I descended the stairs, my heels striking the wood like a war drum, announcing my exit. The keys in my hand felt cold, solid, real—my ticket out.
By the time I slid into the driver’s seat, the weight of betrayal and humiliation pressed down like a mountain. I gripped the wheel until my knuckles blanched, fighting the sob that burned at the back of my throat. But I didn’t let it out. Not yet. Not while they were in that house, clinging to each other like victors on stolen ground.
I started the engine. I was half-expecting Trevor would follow but he didn't. Fine. He could rot in the silence I left behind. The city blurred past, streetlights flashing like gold streaks on the windshield. For a brief, fragile moment, I thought I might breathe again.
Until I noticed the headlights in my rearview mirror. Too close. Panic crept into my nerves, scratching at the edges of my calmness. I gripped the wheel tighter as I took a sharp right into an empty side street, pulling over beneath a flickering lamp post. The following car rolled up behind me, its engine low, steady.
My breath caught into my throat. Then the door opened. And out stepped a familiar man I hadn’t seen in years. Henry—the guy I ghosted back in the day.
He approached the driver’s side, raising a hand in cautious greeting. “Erin. Don’t panic. It’s me.”
I blinked, stunned, my heart stumbling over itself. “Henry?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Henry Silva.” His voice was calm, reassuring, the same tone he used to have when pulling me back from the edge of my storms. “I figured you’d need someone on your side tonight.”
My lips parted, but no words came. Of all the ghosts from my past, I hadn’t expected this one. I thought I had left him behind years ago, buried with the choices I never made. But here he was—my defender, the man who once knew me before I lost myself. And now, fate had delivered him back into my life on the same night I finally walked away from my good-for-nothing husband.
