Chapter 1

On Halloween' Day, Callum slid a divorce agreement across the table to me.

"Your two ex-husbands called to pick a fight with me yesterday," he said. "They told me you're too uptight. That you can't take a Halloween' joke. That you'd never have the guts to sign a divorce agreement."

I'd been married twice before. Before Callum and I got together, I'd explained it to him directly:

"The first time I got married, it was to help my childhood friend Sebastian secure his inheritance rights."

"The second time was to help Dominic, someone I'd trust with my life, get out of an arranged marriage."

"Both times, I walked away clean. No love lost, no grudges held. If that's something you can't live with, then we—"

He'd grabbed my hand, eyes red, and cut me off. "I believe you. All of it. We don't need to talk about the past anymore. But from now on — I'm the only one who gets a place in your eyes."

After we registered our marriage, he and my two ex-husbands were at each other's throats constantly — yet with me, he was always gentle and attentive.

I thought I'd finally married the right man.

Then came the day I returned early from a business trip. I heard him in the living room, talking easily with Sebastian and Dominic — three men who supposedly despised each other:

"Divorce is old news to her. She's done it twice already."

"Hand her the agreement right on Halloween' Day!"

"Afterwards, just come back and tell her it was a joke. Easy."

"Vivienne's wedding is next week. We made that promise back in senior year — her bachelorette night, all of us had to be single."

I stood outside the door and heard every word.

So when Callum came to me with the divorce agreement, I simply took the pen and signed without a word.

By the time Callum came looking for me again, I was six months pregnant.

"You were right," I told him. "I'm too uptight."

"So I took your Halloween' joke at face value."

…

I'd sat in the café across from our building for a full hour.

Only after they'd all left did I go back home.

When I walked in, Callum put down his phone and came to take my bags.

"Why didn't you let me know you were coming back? I would have picked you up."

He took my suitcase with one hand, and the other naturally settled around my waist.

Warm. Attentive. Exactly the same as always.

"Have you eaten?"

"Yes."

He nodded, then seemed to remember something. "Actually, there's something I need to talk to you about."

I set down my things and turned to look at him.

He sighed and pushed the document across to me. "The company's hit a snag. The lawyers recommended we do a formal asset separation. That means going through divorce proceedings — just on paper."

I looked down. A divorce agreement.

He'd had it ready and waiting.

"Once things blow over, we'll remarry." He held my hand, his voice sincere. "A few months at most."

I was quiet for a moment.

"I know this is sudden," he said, squeezing my palm, lowering his voice with a trace of indignation. "But Sebastian and Dominic called earlier. They were making digs at me — saying you used to do anything for them without question, but apparently I don't get the same treatment."

"They also said a woman who's been divorced twice wouldn't dare go through a third one. That you couldn't handle it."

"I've already figured it out — tomorrow is Halloween' Day. We'll go then. Then we wave the certificate in their faces, scare them half to death, show them they'll never look down on you again."

"It's Halloween', after all. Anything can be written off as a joke. Once the company situation settles down, we'll re-register properly. No one will say a word."

He looked at me, something between wounded pride and quiet hope in his eyes. "You're not going to let them look down on me, are you?"

I looked at those eyes for a long time.

Those eyes that looked so sincere, so devoted — eyes that had just been clinking glasses with those two men, saying "she won't make a scene."

"Of course not." I gave him what he wanted.

He visibly exhaled — then quickly masked it with a look of pleasant surprise. "Get some rest. Tomorrow's the end of the month — after we sign, we'll go—"

I took the pen, turned to the last page, and signed.

"Call them," I said, setting down the pen with a smile. "Tell them to stop talking."

Callum blinked. He clearly hadn't expected me to be so easy about it.

He smiled, tucked away the agreement, leaned over and kissed me. "Best wife in the world."

I let him. My heart was as still as standing water.

He took the agreement to the study to make his call. His voice was low, but with only a door between us, I still heard it.

"She signed."

Sebastian's voice came through faintly from the other end:

"Told you. Jo's so easy to handle."

"Good. Keep Vivienne happy on your end. I'll wrap up here and be over soon."

I sat in the room for a long time.

My phone buzzed. A message from Dominic:

[Haven't seen you in ages. Want to get together?]

I stared at it for a long time.

Once, I would have replied "sure."

Would have thought carefully about what to wear, how to do my makeup.

Would have thought about how to protect Callum's dignity in front of them, to show them my marriage was a good one.

To make sure they wouldn't pick fights with him.

After all — one side was the friend I'd grown up with my whole life, the other was the husband I loved. Both were people who mattered deeply to me.

I'd never wanted them to be enemies for the rest of their lives.

But now, I couldn't even be bothered to reply.

I flipped my phone face-down on the coffee table and went to the balcony to take in the laundry.

As I passed the study, Callum was still on the phone.

His voice was low, but carrying a kind of ease I had never heard from him before.

The ease of a man who no longer had to perform. No longer had to pretend.

I suddenly realized — in all the time we'd been together, he'd never spoken like that with me.

The wind on the balcony was strong.

I took the clothes down from the rack one by one, folded them, placed them in the basket.

When I took down the last piece, my phone lit up again.

This time it was Sebastian:

[Heard you're getting a divorce again?]

[Callum's a piece of work. He never deserved you. Don't be sad.]

[Grandpa Quinn's eightieth birthday banquet is in a few days. Dominic and I will be there to celebrate — let's catch up properly!]

I let out a quiet laugh. How touching.

As if he hadn't been the one in the living room helping to plot the whole thing.

I pressed the power button and dropped my phone into my pocket.

I suddenly wanted to know what kind of person Vivienne was.

That she was worth all three of them going to such lengths to keep a promise.

That she was worth all three of them treating me — so casually — as a means to an end.

But then I thought again. It didn't matter.

It didn't matter anymore.

I picked up the laundry basket and turned back toward the house. I didn't pause as I passed the study.

Warm amber light spilled through the crack in the door.

This light. This home. This man.

Starting tomorrow, none of it had anything to do with me.