Chapter 4

The next morning at nine. Civil registry office.

When I arrived, Callum was already waiting outside.

He was leaning against the car door. When he saw me get out of the cab, he stubbed out his cigarette and walked over.

"Where did you go last night?"

"Grandpa's."

He nodded.

His eyes rested on my face for a moment. He reached out to touch my hair — I turned my head away.

His hand stopped mid-air, held there for one second, then fell back to his side.

"Jo," he said, lowering his voice with a measured kind of certainty. "I know you saved face for me in front of Sebastian and Dominic last night. I appreciate that."

"As for the apartment…" He paused. "Vivienne needed to establish residency in the city, and she needed a property registered in her name. I figured it was just a technicality. You've never been the type to worry about those things — that's why I didn't mention it."

I looked at him and said nothing.

I'm not the type to worry about those things?

He gave our marital home to another woman.

And dismissed it with "you have money, you wouldn't care"?

He didn't think I wouldn't care. He simply didn't care whether I cared.

"In any case — you still have the right to live there!"

"After the divorce, stay somewhere else for a while," he continued, already arranging things. "Once I've sorted everything out on my end, I'll bring you back."

I almost laughed.

Even now, he thought this was all still part of the performance. That I was playing along.

"Let's go," I said, not taking his words. I turned and walked toward the building. "Time to process the paperwork."

He followed, his steps quick.

The procedure was faster than I expected.

Signatures. Fingerprints. Photographs.

The officer brought down the stamp with a clean, final sound.

The divorce certificate sat in my hands — a thin little booklet, not much different from the marriage certificate. Just a different color.

Callum glanced down at his phone, a small frown crossing his face.

"I need to take a call," he said. "Wait here — I'll walk you back after."

He stepped a short distance away and answered.

His voice was low, but two words still drifted across: "Vivienne…"

I stood where I was and watched his back.

He hung up and came back quickly, looking hurried. "Something's come up. Head back on your own — I'll reach out later."

After he walked out the main doors, I turned slowly and headed toward the other end of the hall — the window for marriage registration.

…

By the time Callum walked out of the civil registry office, the sun had already climbed high in the sky.

He looked at the divorce certificate in his hand, then checked his phone — Oct 31st. Halloween' Day.

Right. Today.

The tension he'd been carrying loosened just a little.

His phone rang — a client call. They talked for almost ten minutes.

When he hung up, he glanced back at the registry office entrance.

Why wasn't Jo out yet?

He hesitated, then turned to walk back.

He wanted to say a few more words to her — at least lock in a timeline for remarrying, so she wouldn't spiral into overthinking.

He hadn't taken two steps before he walked straight into a man pushing through the doors.

The other man dropped everything he was holding.

Callum's divorce certificate slipped from his hand too.

"Sorry." He spoke first, bending down to collect them.

Two certificates lay side by side on the ground — his divorce certificate, and the other man's marriage certificate.

A gust of wind caught the cover of the marriage certificate, flipping it open halfway, exposing the corner of a photograph.

Callum's hand went still.

"It's fine." The other man picked up the marriage certificate before he could, his voice even.

Callum looked up.

The man was wearing a dark gray overcoat. Tall, composed, expression perfectly neutral.

"Congratulations," Callum said, a casual pleasantry. "Getting married today."

The man glanced at the divorce certificate in Callum's hand. His tone was equally even: "Congratulations to you as well."

Callum blinked, not quite catching the meaning.

The man had already tucked the marriage certificate into his inner pocket. His gaze passed over Callum's face without lingering, and he turned and walked away.

Callum stared after him, the thought growing heavier in his mind — today was Halloween' Day. Who gets married on Halloween' Day?

And this man's voice, this man's build — he was certain he'd seen him somewhere before.

"Wait—!"