Chapter 3

Between the lashing and the blizzard, Bradley collapsed in the courtyard.

His men rushed to carry him inside and sent for the family doctor.

I stood in the corridor, watching shadows move behind the door and listening to Eden’s muffled sobs.

All I felt was cold.

Back in my room, I began to pack.

In three years of marriage, Bradley had given me more jewelry, gowns, paintings, and limited-edition handbags than I could count.

Now they stood in neat rows, nothing more than evidence that he had once loved me.

I packed only a few changes of clothes and Anne’s necessities.

Footsteps sounded outside the door.

Bradley entered, supported by two of his men. His face was ashen. The wounds on his back had been treated, but he was still too weak to stand on his own.

“Wallis, I’m the one who wronged you.”

He swallowed before continuing.

“The public will know the divorce was my fault. I’ll tell the press it was amicable. I won’t let anyone think I abandoned you, and I’ll do everything I can to protect your reputation.”

He paused.

“You’re young. You’re intelligent. None of this was your fault. You still have your whole life ahead of you.”

“And I’ll compensate you generously.”

I gave him a cold smile.

His remorse looked so sincere that anyone else might have believed he was acting in my best interest.

A quiet laugh escaped me.

“Spare me the performance, Bradley.”

He blinked.

I walked up to the man I had once loved more than anyone in the world.

“This isn’t about protecting me. You just want to stop feeling guilty before you marry Zora.”

“You say you can’t lose her again. Then what was I to you for the past three years?”

He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

“Some things can’t be fixed, Wallis,” he finally said. “Not everyone gets a happy ending.”

I studied him in silence.

This was the man I had once trusted with my life, now dressing up his cruelty as tragedy.

“So Anne and I together still matter less than your regret.”

My own calm frightened me.

He flinched, but his answer remained the same.

“I’m sorry.”

I turned away, but my mind dragged me back to an old photograph.

Zora stood on a training field in a white tank top, smiling wide and bright.

I had knocked a manila envelope to the floor by accident. Bradley had lost his temper with me—one of the only times he ever had.

He pushed me aside and bent to retrieve the photograph, handling it with the care of a man recovering a sacred relic.

Later, he threw it into the fireplace in front of me, pulled me into his arms, and said,

“From now on, you’re the only woman in my heart.”

I believed him.

I thought we would spend the rest of our lives together.

But perhaps the ending had been written from the beginning.

Some feelings never die.

They only wait for the right name to bring them back.