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Chapter 1
“Hello, Dylan from Golden Key Properties? I’ve decided to proceed with selling the Maple Drive property – just need confirmation the money will hit my account within 72 hours.”
The voice on the other end of the line erupted with excitement.
That house had been my home with Ryan for four decades. It was my dowry, my sanctuary. No matter how tough things got. I never once considered parting with it. But
now…
Across the plaza, three familiar figures strolled back into the concert hall. To anyone else. they appeared to be the perfect family: a husband, a wife, and a devoted son attending a symphony together. Passersby might have smiled, commenting on the fine young man accompanying his parents.
But the man was my husband. The young man was my son.
And the woman they were shielding wasn’t me.
It was my best friend, Madeline Foster.
Frozen outside the theater, cancer diagnosis in hand, I watched as they laughed about the encore.
As I caught sight of Madeline and Ryan stepping out of the concert hall, I could barely breathe. They were talking animatedly about how fantastic the performance had been. Meanwhile, I had just learned that I was dying.
Madeline flashed a bright smile at Ryan, though her voice held a feigned lightness, “Don’t say things like that about
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Elise.” she chided. her tone almost playful. “That’s not nice. She is your wife after all.”
Ryan scoffed dismissively. “Am I wrong? Everything I said is true. She’s only good for the kitchen–cooking and cleaning. If I brought her to an event like this, she’d only embarrass me.”
I stood quietly nearby, clenching the folded program until the edges curled under my fingers.
He had forgotten everything.
Forgotten that it was he who pursued me.
Forgotten that before I ever wore his ring, I was a woman with ambition, a sharp mind, and a career.
It wasn’t time or motherhood that dulled me.
It was him.
This marriage.
Then Lucas’s voice sliced through the air, sharp and careless.
“I don’t get it. Why would you marry someone like her when there were clearly better choices?”
My heart skipped a beat.
When did my son start looking at me with such disdain?
When did the child who once clung to me turn into this stranger?
Madeline flushed, trying to deflect the awkwardness.. “Alright, alright, enough,” she said, attempting to smooth things over. “Good thing she’s not here. If she heard this, it
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would be totally misunderstood.”
And then…
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B
Madeline turned. Her eyebrows arched slightly as she spotted me, a faint hint of surprise in her eyes.
“Elise? You’re here? Were you coming to the concert? I thought Ryan said he didn’t get you a ticket.”
She looked almost troubled–like someone who had just discovered a stain on a spotless carpet.
I didn’t answer. My gaze fell on her hand.
The ring glistened under the streetlight.
A diamond solitaire.
Identical to the one I had found in Ryan’s briefcase just three days ago.
Forty years ago, we had married without rings. Ryan had promised me, on our wedding night, that one day, when he could afford it, he would surprise me with a diamond.
His salary had increased from forty thousand to four hundred thousand, yet I still waited.
I had dared to believe that the ring in his briefcase was meant for me a long–overdue gift, perhaps an anniversary surprise.
But now I saw the truth.
He had given it to her. Carelessly. Thoughtlessly. As though it meant nothing.
I took a step forward, desperate for a closer look–at what I would never have.
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Ryan snapped, lunging between us, shielding Madeline like a damsel in a bad soap opera.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed, his voice low and sharp, so Madeline wouldn’t hear the venom beneath it. “That ring was a gift for Madeline. Can you not do this here?”
Madeline stood behind him, untouched, unbothered. poised and composed as ever.
She didn’t flinch. Didn’t frown.
Didn’t care.
She looked like royalty, draped in diamonds and smug silence.
And me?
I was the madwoman outside the gate. The embarrassing mistake they wanted to bury.
“You promised me,” I whispered, locking eyes with Ryan.
But he looked confused, then irritated, as if my presence was the real offense.
“What are you even doing here?” he snapped. “This isn’t your place. Can’t you see people are staring because of you?”
His glare, full of disgust, cut deeper than I had prepared for.
My throat tightened, but I held the tears at bay.
I was too old to cry in public. Too proud to fall apart where they could see.
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B
“You said you’d get me a diamond ring. And today is
“Enough!” He waved his hand dismissively, like swatting away a fly. “You’re still hung up on something from forty years ago? Fine. I’ll get you your stupid anniversary ring later, okay? Now just go. You’re making a fool of yourself. Spare me and our son the embarrassment.”
He sighed heavily, as though I were a burden he couldn’t shake.
Even Lucas looked annoyed.
“Just go home already,” he muttered. “Instead of finishing your chores, you’re out here trying to catch a concert? Do you even understand music?“
He grumbled something under his breath. “Trying to compare yourself to Maddie… What part of you even comes close?”
Madeline tugged at Ryan’s sleeve. “Ryan, the concert’s about to start. Let’s go in.”
She turned to me, offering a look of faint apology—more for show than genuine regret–before walking off with a quiet grace, confident that Ryan would fix whatever mess had been left behind.
And he did.
As soon as Madeline was out of earshot, Ryan shoved me.
The envelope slipped from my hands.
My cancer report scattered across the pavement.
They didn’t even glance down.
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They walked right over it–right over the words “early–stage stomach cancer.”
Right over my name.
Ryan didn’t ask if I wanted to come inside.
As always, he kept me shut out from anything that might make me feel human.
When they disappeared into the hall, I knelt and gathered the papers.
If no one cared and my remaining days were numbered, they’d belong solely to me.
It was time to go.
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