Chapter 1: The Divorce Papers
The sound of the pen scratching against paper was the loudest thing in the room.
Elena Hart's hand trembled as she signed the final line. Divorce Agreement. Two words that cut deeper than any wound he'd ever given her.
Across the table sat Adrian Blackwood — her husband, her first love, her greatest mistake. He was calm, as always. Perfect suit. Perfect face. Perfect silence.
When she looked up, his cold eyes didn't waver. "Is that all?" he asked, voice as steady as steel.
Her lips parted, but no words came. Once, she would have begged. Pleaded. Asked him to remember the nights they dreamed together, the mornings they held each other as if the world didn't exist.
But that Elena was gone.
"Yes," she whispered instead. "That's all."
The lawyer cleared his throat, taking the signed papers. "Mrs. Blackwood—"She cut him off softly. "Miss Hart."
Adrian's jaw tightened. For the first time, something flickered behind his composure — a crack in the mask he wore so well.
Elena rose from her seat, every inch of her posture graceful, dignified ."You can keep the house," she said quietly. "And everything that came with it."
He frowned. "Including me?"
She smiled — not sweetly, but painfully, like someone setting herself free from her own cage. "Especially you."
And before he could respond, she walked out of the office — her heels clicking against the marble floor like the final beat of a broken heart.
Outside, the sky was gray, heavy with unshed rain. She didn't look back. Not once. Because if she did, she wasn't sure she'd be able to walk away.