Dante’s company was located right in the city center.

I put on an ivory trench coat, slipped into my stiletto heels, and walked into the tall building.

The security guard at the entrance bowed politely, as if nothing had changed.

I smiled back, though only I knew I was no longer the woman who cleaned up his messes and covered his betrayals.

The receptionist stood up the moment she saw me. “Mrs. Giselle, Mr. Dante is in the conference room.”

“Mrs.?” I repeated softly, smiling faintly. “From now on, call me Miss Giselle.”

She froze, speechless.

I walked toward the conference room and pushed open the heavy glass door.

The men inside immediately rose to greet me except him.

Dante looked up, a faint frown forming between his brows. “What are you doing here?”

He still carried that calm, detached expression, the same one he wore even when I had given up the world for him.

I approached the table and placed the folder gently before him.

“This is the anniversary gift I prepared for you.”

His eyes flicked over the papers, and in that instant, his posture stiffened.

The words Divorce Agreement cut through his composure like a blade.

“Giselle,” he said quietly, anger creeping into his voice for the first time, “do you even know what you’re doing?”

“I know very well.”

I looked straight at him, my tone calm. “I’m doing what you didn’t have the courage to do six years ago letting go.”

Lyra’s perfume drifted into the room, sweet and suffocatingly ironic.

She walked in holding a folder, perfectly composed.

When her eyes fell on the document on the table, her lips curved into a faint, knowing smile.

I turned around and walked away without a pause.

Behind me, Dante’s voice grew low and urgent. “Giselle, don’t go!”

I didn’t look back.

The wind slipped through the open door, lifting a strand of my hair.

I said softly, “This time, it’s my turn to leave you.”

I thought he would sign the papers immediately.

But when I left them on his desk and walked out, he didn’t say a word.

The next morning, sunlight filtered into the bedroom.

The other side of the bed was empty; as always, he had risen early, impeccably dressed, as though nothing had happened.

Breakfast was still neatly arranged on the table, and beside it lay his handwritten note:

Don’t forget the reunion tonight.

I stared at the words and couldn’t help but laugh.

His handwriting was elegant and steady now it looked like pure mockery.

He had read the divorce papers, yet chose to pretend they didn’t exist.

To him, my calmness was nothing more than another fleeting mood swing.

He thought I would forgive him again, just like all the times before.

I didn’t tear up the note. I folded it carefully and slipped it into my bag.

It would be my last ritual in watching love collapse.

That evening, the reunion was held in a private suite atop the Champs-Élysées Hotel.

I hadn’t planned to go, but I thought once I left this time, I might never return.

Seeing everyone again would be my farewell.

Dante insisted on accompanying me.

I refused, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer, continuing his flawless performance as the “attentive husband.”

The moment we entered, laughter filled the room.

“I told you, if Giselle comes, Dante won’t be far behind!”

“He’s afraid she might get lost!”

The room burst into teasing laughter.

Dante smiled with his usual grace, pulled out a chair for me, and began distributing the gifts he had prepared for everyone.

It was a full set of limited-edition jewelry from Chanelixue Nai, worth seven figures.

“My God, your wife is really lucky to have you!”

“With such a devoted husband, who wouldn’t be jealous?”

I only smiled faintly.

I’d seen this scene too many times he was always so good at making others believe in love.

He knew exactly how to show the world the image of a perfect marriage,

but somehow forgot that I, too, once needed to believe in it.

The room was filled with laughter when the door suddenly opened.

A tall, radiant figure appeared under the lights, glittering with jewels.

Lyra.

Her smile was familiar, sweet, and suffocating.

“How could a reunion be complete without me? After all, we’re all part of the same circle.”

The air froze instantly.

I could hear classmates whispering under their breath.

She pretended not to notice the awkwardness and gracefully took the seat across from me, her gaze sweeping over the jewelry in everyone’s hands.

“Chanelixue Nai quite a famous brand,” she said with a curved smile. “But perhaps you don’t know I’m the founder.”

I froze, my fingertips tightening.

She founded it?

A few years ago, her family had nearly been expelled from the industry for financial fraud.

And now she dared to declare herself the owner of an international brand?

She went on casually, “Two years ago, my husband invested in more than twenty companies under my name. One of them, luckily, turned out to be Chanelixue Nai.”

As she spoke, her eyes flicked toward Dante, her lips still curved in that calm, knowing smile.

It wasn’t provocation it was certainty.

A dull ache spread through my chest.

Two years ago, he really had been busy.

He told me he was ‘expanding into overseas markets,’ and I believed him.

So that was what he was busy with not business, but building her dreams.

“What’s wrong, Giselle?”

Dante noticed my pale face and immediately reached out to steady me. “Are you feeling unwell? Should I call a doctor?”

Lyra let out a quiet laugh, her tone dripping with mockery. “Giselle, you’re so delicate. Mr. Dante treats you like glass, yet you still look half-dead. How pathetic.”

Before anyone could react

Slap!

The sharp sound cut through the air.

Everyone froze.

Dante had struck her across the face. His voice was cold as steel. “Say one more word, and get out.”

Lyra covered her cheek, a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes. Then she gave a short, disdainful laugh and turned to leave.

After she was gone, the tension in the room slowly eased. Laughter returned, one cautious chuckle at a time.

But I couldn’t bring myself to laugh.

I looked at Dante’s face the face of a man seemingly protecting his wife and felt nothing but strangeness.

He gripped my hand tightly, his voice full of concern. “Darling, what’s wrong? The doctor’s on the way.”

“I’m fine.”

I gently pulled my hand free. “I just need to use the restroom.”

The hallway lights were bright. Halfway down, she appeared.

Lyra leaned against the wall, her red lips curving into a smirk. “Don’t think he hit me for you that doesn’t mean you’ve won.”

I stopped and met her gaze coolly.

Her smile deepened. “I’ve given him twins. Do you believe me when I say, if I call and tell him one of them has a fever, he’ll leave you right away?”

I didn’t answer.

I simply turned and walked away.

When I returned to the private room, his face was exactly as I had expected filled with anxiety.

He was on the phone, and the moment he hung up, his expression changed.

“Darling, something urgent came up at the office. You stay and enjoy the evening. I’ve already spoken to the manager.”

“Dante,” I looked at him, “didn’t you say you’d stay with me tonight? Please, don’t go.”

He frowned, his gaze flickering, as though torn between two worlds.

I could see the hesitation in his eyes.

He looked at me once more, then slowly pried my fingers off his sleeve, one by one.

“I’ll come back tonight, I promise. All right?”

I nodded and smiled.

But even I could feel how cold that smile was.

Half an hour later, my phone lit up.

It was a video from Lyra.

I stared at the screen for a few seconds before pressing play.

In the video, tears streamed down her face as she spoke in a fragile voice.

“I just miss you so much. Seeing you with her, so loving, it drives me insane with jealousy. It’s my fault, please don’t be mad, okay?”

Dante sat beside her, his expression gentle.

He held a warm egg to her reddened cheek, his voice low and tender.

“Don’t cry. Don’t cry, whatever you want, I’ll make it up to you.”

“Then… the twins’ birthday is coming up,” she said softly, “I want that new island you bought can we give it to them as a present?”

He was silent for a moment, then nodded.

At the end of the video, she lifted her head and smiled at the camera a sweet smile that chilled me to the bone.

“See? Even what he promised you, as long as I ask, he’ll still give it to me. Giselle, you’ve lost.”

I stared at the screen, the emptiness in my chest spreading wider and wider.

So he could be gentle just not with me.

And that, I realized, was what hurt the most.

The worst part of love isn’t the betrayal itself,

but the calm tenderness of the one betraying you.

Outside, the neon lights blurred before my eyes.

I switched my phone to silent and slowly stood up.

Perhaps after tonight, I really should leave this country.

Some people aren’t worth waiting a lifetime for.

And I finally understood that.

After that reunion, I thought Dante might at least notice something was wrong.

But he didn’t.

He continued as always gentle to others, distant to me.

And Lyra’s shadow appeared in his office almost every day.

That morning, I went to the company to sign my final transfer documents.

The moment I stepped into the meeting room, Lyra suddenly let out a sharp cry, clutching her stomach before collapsing onto the floor, striking the edge of the coffee table.

“Lyra!” Dante rushed to her instantly.

He hadn’t even taken off his jacket when he scooped her into his arms.

“Call a doctor!”

His voice was low, filled with a panic I had never heard from him before.

I stood frozen as my colleagues rushed out in alarm, the room erupting into chaos.

For a moment, I thought she was truly hurt.

But just before she fell, I had caught it the faintest trace of a smile at the corner of her lips.

It lasted less than a second, yet it was enough to freeze my heart.

Half an hour later, she was carried out on a stretcher to the hospital.

I had just stepped into the hallway when Dante’s cold voice sounded behind me.

“What did you do?”