Amanda POV:
Brody and Carla arrived, their faces tight with barely suppressed fury. They were dressed in formal evening wear, clearly pulled away from some glamorous event. My text had struck a nerve. Good.
"What do you want, Amanda?" Brody demanded, his voice low and dangerous, his eyes burning with resentment. "Haven't you done enough?"
"Oh, I'm just getting started," I replied, my voice a calm, chilling monotone. The words felt foreign on my tongue, but they also felt right. There was no emotion behind them, only a cold, calculated intent. "I want a divorce. And half of everything. Or, I come home. As your wife."
Brody's jaw clenched. He laughed, a short, bitter sound. "My wife? You want to be my wife? The woman who ran off with another man, leaving her family behind? You have some nerve!"
My blood ran cold. "Ran off? What are you talking about?"
He smirked, a cruel, triumphant glint in his eyes. He pulled a thick stack of glossy photographs from his jacket and flung them onto my hospital bed. They scattered, revealing images of me. Me, in a series of intimate poses with Cain Glass. Me, laughing with him, holding his hand, even kissing him. The clothes were mine, the settings were familiar from my undercover days, but the emotions on my face were a lie. A fabrication.
My fingers trembled as I picked one up, my mind reeling. These weren't real. These were doctored. Or, worse, manipulated. Glass was a master of psychological warfare. He knew how to break a person. He knew how to make them believe things that weren't true.
"Carla told me," Brody continued, his voice dripping with accusation. "She said you' d always had a wild streak, that you were probably having an affair. But I didn't believe her. Not at first." He walked closer, his eyes boring into mine, filled with a hatred that chilled me to the bone. "Then I found these. I took these, Amanda. I followed you for weeks, trying to understand. Trying to find out what was happening. And this is what I found. My wife, in the arms of another man."
My head felt like it would explode. He took these? He was there? He was close enough to see? And he just… watched? He didn't try to save me? He didn't try to understand? He simply confirmed his worst fears, fueled by Carla' s insidious whispers. He hadn' t investigated, he hadn' t sought the truth. He' d simply believed the worst. The chilling realization settled over me: Brody hadn' t been a victim of circumstances; he' d been a willing participant in my downfall, blinded by his own pride and Carla' s poison. And the pictures… they confirmed my worst fear about Carla' s connection to Glass.
My eyes fell. "I wasn't... I wasn't willing," I whispered, the words tasting like ash. "It wasn't what it looked like."
He scoffed, a harsh, dismissive sound. "I don't care what it 'looked like,' Amanda. Or what the 'truth' is. It doesn't matter anymore. I've found someone who actually deserves my love, someone who didn't abandon me and our son for a cheap thrill." His gaze was as cold as granite. "So, let's play your game. You pretend you're dead. I move on. We get a clean slate. That's what you wanted, isn't it?"
My face felt numb. He wanted me to stay dead. For him. For his new life. And then Eben, my son, stepped forward, his small face hardened, almost a miniature version of Brody's disdain.
"I'll let you visit me sometimes," he said, his voice hesitant but firm, "if you're good. But Carla is my mom now. You can't take Daddy away from her." His small hand, which used to fit so perfectly in mine, now rested firmly in Carla's.
My heart, or what was left of it, twisted. My son. My beautiful boy. He was lost to me.
"No," I said, my voice gaining strength, each word a hammer blow against their carefully constructed facade. "I' m not going anywhere. You can either divorce me and give me what is legally mine, or I stay. Your choice, Brody. I hold all the cards now. Or do you want the world to know the truth? About the pictures. About Carla. About everything."
Brody's breath hitched, his eyes blazing with fury. He stared at me, his chest heaving, his face contorted with rage.
I met his gaze, my expression blank, devoid of any fear. I had nothing left to fear.
He let out a frustrated growl. "Fine," he bit out, the word dripping with venom. "You want to play this game? You want to come back? Then come back. But don't expect anything from me. You'll regret this, Amanda." He turned, his arm snaking around Carla's waist. His face softened as he looked at her, a sickeningly tender expression. "Let's go, darling. This... unpleasantness is over."
Eben, still clutching Carla's hand, followed them. He didn' t look back. Carla, however, paused at the door. Her eyes, filled with cold, calculating malice, flickered over me one last time. A silent promise of war.
