Chapter 5
The hospital room fell into a suffocating silence, as if the very air had turned to stone.
Jack stared at me, stunned. “Emily, what… what did you just say?”
I met his gaze head-on, my voice steady. “I said, let’s get a divorce.”
For a second, he just blinked at me, then let out a low, humorless chuckle, like he thought I was joking.
“Divorce?” He scoffed. “And how exactly do you plan on surviving without me?”
He crossed his arms, shaking his head. “Yeah, okay, I admit leaving you in the rain wasn’t great. But come on, couldn’t you have called a cab? What’s that big brain of yours even for?”
“Throwing a tantrum is one thing, but let’s be real, if I actually agreed to this divorce, what would you do then? Beg me to take you back?”
Smack.
Jack’s head snapped to the side as Mr. Sullivan’s hand connected with his cheek.
“Listen to yourself!” His father thundered. “You abandoned your wife in a storm, lost your own child, and you still have the nerve to act like she’s the problem?”
“Is this the kind of man your mother and I raised you to be?”
Jack clenched his jaw, but the defiance in his eyes spoke louder than words.
Mrs. Sullivan, tears still glistening on her cheeks, clutched my hand.
“Emily, sweetheart, don’t worry. That ungrateful brat is the one in the wrong. From now on, the Sullivan family is your home.”
I turned away, unable to stop the tears slipping down my face.
I knew Mrs. Sullivan meant well, knew she was only saying this because she wanted me to stay. But even so, her love for me over the years had never been a lie.
And because of that, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything cruel.
Jack, however, completely missed the point.
“Mom, are you kidding me?” he snapped. “I’m your son!”
Mrs. Sullivan let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “If I had known I’d give birth to such a fool, I would’ve just stayed childless.”
Then she turned to her husband. “What are you standing there for? Get this idiot out of my sight!”
Mr. Sullivan didn’t hesitate. But before he could lay a hand on Jack, my soon-to-be ex took a step back.
“Don’t bother,” Jack sneered. “I can leave on my own.”
He shot me one last glare, his lip curling. “God knows what kind of spell you’ve put on them…”
Then he stormed out.
Once he was gone, I gently told his parents to leave too.
I had never been the kind of person who could walk away easily. It took time for me to open up, and even more time for me to let go.
Jack and I had been more of a business arrangement than a love story. When he married me, it wasn’t out of love, it was out of spite.
At the time, the Sullivan family business was struggling, and Zoe had just broken up with him to go abroad.
I knew his heart wasn’t mine. But my family needed the partnership too, so I convinced myself it was fine.
And for a while, it was.
Like something out of a cliché romance novel, he slowly chipped away at my walls. I was distant at first, but over time, I let myself believe, let myself hope.
Then Zoe came back.
Logic told me to leave.
By then, the Sullivan and Rivers businesses were thriving. There was no longer any reason to stay tied to each other.
But love doesn’t listen to logic.
So I stayed.
I told myself that just like love takes time, so does leaving.
That if I waited long enough, endured long enough, one day I would wake up and feel nothing. No more regret. No more pain.
For two years, I let Jack humiliate me. Let Zoe push me aside, over and over again.
Now, finally, I was ready to walk away.
But the price, God, the price was too high.
A life, barely begun, snuffed out before I even knew it existed.
Because I was too much of a coward to leave sooner.
What had I done?
The realization crushed me.
Before I knew it, my hand flew to my cheek, the sharp sting of my own slap barely registering through the wave of grief.
I buried my face in the blanket and sobbed.
