Audrey Wolfe POV:
Calvin didn't say a word about the divorce for days. He just watched me, a silent, brooding presence in our crumbling home, as if my words hadn't sliced through the air like a razor. It was almost worse than his anger. The quiet. The anticipation.
Then, the phone calls started. Not from him. From my mother.
"Audrey, what is this nonsense about a divorce?" Her voice, shrill and laced with venom, scraped against my raw nerves. "Are you out of your mind? Calvin is a catch! A millionaire! You think you can just throw that away?"
I gripped the phone tighter. "He cheated on me, Mom. And I lost the baby because of her."
"A baby can be replaced!" she shrieked, her words a hammer blow to my chest. "But a husband like Calvin? Never! If you divorce him, I swear to God, Audrey, I will... I will just end it all. Your father and I, we won't survive the shame!"
My father, in the background, chimed in with his usual spineless acquiescence. "Your mother's right, sweetheart. Think of us. Think of our reputation. What will people say?"
Calvin had stood in the doorway, listening, a faint smirk playing on his lips. He didn' t intervene. He didn't defend me. He simply let my parents tear me apart, using their threats as leverage, a silent accomplice in their emotional blackmail.
"God, Audrey, why didn't you just leave them to it?" Kaliyah asked now, her voice tight with frustration as we sat in the back of Calvin's sleek black car. He'd insisted on driving us home, and Kaliyah, ever the pragmatist, had accepted to avoid a scene. His stiff posture behind the wheel was almost comical, a stark contrast to his earlier smooth demeanor.
"You don't understand, Kaliyah," I sighed, rubbing my temples. "You don't have parents like mine. They wouldn't have just 'left it.' They would have made my life a living hell. They would have gone public. They would have destroyed everything."
I remembered the countless times I'd tried to make them proud. The late nights studying, the perfect grades, the prestigious interior design firm I'd built from scratch. It was never enough. Only Calvin, his wealth, his status, had ever seemed to satisfy their insatiable greed. He was their "cash cow," as my mother so delicately put it. I was just the vessel.
"He promised me the world, you know," I murmured, the words tasting bitter. "Before the wedding. He said he' d found his soulmate. That he'd protect me from everything, even my own family."
Kaliyah scoffed. "And what a great job he did."
My memory drifted to a cold winter night, not long after we got married. I had come home late from a project, exhausted. Calvin was already in bed. When I tried to cuddle close, he flinched. "Audrey," he'd said, his voice flat. "You've gained weight. You're not as... radiant as you used to be. It's not attractive." The words had felt like ice in my veins, cold and cutting, a stark contradiction to the sweet whispers of love he'd uttered mere months before.
A sudden shiver ran through me, despite the car's warmth. The air conditioning was blasting, but it felt like a cold dread.
"Are you okay?" Calvin's voice cut through my thoughts. He'd pulled the car over to the curb, concern etched onto his features. He reached back, an almost tender gesture, to adjust the vent. His fingers brushed my arm.
A part of me, the old, wounded part, wanted to lean into that fleeting touch, to believe in the illusion of care. But the new Audrey, the one forged in fire, knew better. His touch felt like a lie. A calculated act.
I remembered another moment, after we had reconciled from one of his earlier "mistakes." He had kneeled before me, his eyes brimming with what looked like tears. "Audrey, you are my everything. I can't live without you. I will cherish you forever." Those words had been so sweet, so convincing. Just like the ones he'd whispered in Brea's ear, probably.
Then, not long before the final betrayal, he'd snarled at me, "You're so naive, Audrey. Did you really think I'd be with just one woman, when the world is at my feet? You're boring. She's exciting." The memory was a festering wound, still capable of making me flinch.
I pulled my arm back sharply, breaking contact. "I'm fine, Calvin. Just cold."
His hand hovered in the air for a moment, then dropped to the steering wheel. A flicker of something, disappointment maybe, crossed his face before he masked it. He sighed, a heavy, theatrical sound.
"You always loved hot chocolate after a long day," he said, his voice softer, almost nostalgic. "With extra whipped cream. I remember."
Kaliyah, who had been silently fuming, piped up, "Oh, really? You remember that? Funny, I don't remember you remembering much else about Audrey when it counted." Her sarcasm dripped like acid.
The silence returned, heavier this time. Calvin tightened his grip on the wheel, his knuckles white. He glanced in the rearview mirror, his eyes meeting mine for a split second, a silent plea in their depths.
Then, his phone buzzed, vibrating against the console. He glanced at the screen, and his face instantly hardened. It was Brea.
He answered, putting it on speaker. "What is it, Brea? I'm busy." His voice was curt, impatient.
"Busy?" Brea's voice, shrill and distorted through the speaker, grated on my ears. "Busy with her, aren't you? Don't lie to me, Calvin! I know you're with Audrey! I saw you! How dare you leave me alone after what we've been through? Are you trying to hurt me again? Are you trying to make me lose this one too?" Her voice escalated into a hysterical wail.
My stomach churned. This one too? The words hung heavy in the air, a chilling echo of my own lost child. He was putting her through IVF. He was trying to give her the family he'd so carelessly destroyed with me.
The car filled with her anguished cries, her accusations painting a picture of a paranoid, desperate woman.
"You're obsessed with her, aren't you?" Brea shrieked, her voice shaking with rage. "You still want her! I saw the way you looked at her! You're a liar, Calvin Bishop! A pathetic, cheating liar!"
Calvin winced, his face a mask of irritation and rising anger. This was his perfect life now. The carefully constructed facade of the devoted husband, crumbling under the weight of his own creation. The sound of her desperate cry, echoing in the confined space of the car, was a symphony of his own making.
He was still listening, still enduring her tirade. And I just wanted out. I wanted to run and never look back. He had built his bed, and now he had to lie in it. But her words, "lose this one too," had landed like a punch. This was a tragedy waiting to happen.
