Wayne called to tell me his plans just after I was rear-ended.

“She's getting married today, and I need to be there.”

Pain ripped through my abdomen as I spoke, my voice shaky. “Please, come to the hospital with me... I just got rear-ended, and the car—”

Before I could finish, Wayne cut me off, impatience sharp in his voice. “I promised to put our family first, and I intend to keep that promise. It's one last look, and besides, she's getting married. What are you so worried about? Don't try to guilt-trip me into staying.”

The line went dead.

By the time I got to the hospital, blood had soaked the seat beneath me.

Because I was barely conscious, the hospital tried to reach my emergency contact before the procedure. Wayne ignored all seventeen calls. Meanwhile, the man who never posted anything on social media chose that moment to post: “Not being with you is the greatest regret of my life, but all I wish for is your happiness.”

In the photo, Madilyn leaned against him in a Victorian-style dress, her smile so radiant they looked like the newlyweds.

After the surgery, I took a moment to pull myself together. Four years after Wayne first asked for a divorce, I signed the papers and filed them with the court.

During the week I was in the hospital, Wayne never showed. Yet he kept me updated on his schedule every day. Day one: attending Madilyn's wedding. Day two: helping her relatives settle in.

I was drained. I didn't answer a single message. Wayne must have thought I was upset, because—out of nowhere—he called.

“Don't be mad. This is the last time I'll see her,” he said, his voice catching halfway through, a hint of longing bleeding through. “She's married now. I just wanted to see if... her husband treats her well.”

“I'll be back tomorrow. Emanuel told me you're in the hospital. I'll come pick you up and take you home.”

Before I could answer, Wayne hung up on me again.

The next day, evening came and went. He still hadn't shown. Despite the pain, I checked myself out of the hospital.

When I got home, Wayne was in the kitchen in an apron. He looked up, startled to see me, and immediately launched into an explanation.

“I was just about to go pick you up. Why didn't you wait? I haven't been home long myself.”

I glanced at the pork stew he was packing into an insulated container, and my heart went colder with every second. I couldn't stand the smell of it—I never ate pork stew. Only Madilyn liked that kind of stew. It must have been simmering for at least three hours, which meant he'd been home since noon.

I watched him for a beat, forcing down the bitterness rising in my throat. “It's fine.”

When I didn't push, his shoulders relaxed. He hurried out, his steps unusually brisk. “I have a client who's sick. I thought I'd drop off some stew and talk over a contract.”

The door closed behind him. Three minutes later, I followed.

Wayne didn't drive far—just to a hotel down the road.

The sight waiting for me at the hotel entrance cut straight through me.

Madilyn.

The woman Wayne had an affair with four years ago.

The woman he'd lost every shred of dignity over—the one he'd dropped to his knees and begged me to divorce him for.

Madilyn stood beside a man I didn't recognize—presumably her new husband. Wayne handed her the insulated container, keeping a careful distance, but his eyes gave him away. His reluctance to let her go was written all over his face.

Madilyn smiled her thanks, and then she and her husband walked into the hotel.

That night, Wayne came home drunk. His eyes were squeezed shut, but he kept murmuring, “Madilyn... Madilyn...”

Even now that Madilyn was married, he couldn't let her go.

It was absurd to me.

The man who once wouldn't touch a drop of alcohol for my sake was now drunk every few weeks.

A chill settled deep in me. I was sure my heart—already battered and torn—couldn't hurt anymore. But I was wrong. The pain still found a way to cut deeper.

I quietly packed my bags, taking a deep breath to dull the ache. In two weeks, I'd finally have the divorce decree.

By then, I no longer cared who Wayne was with.

Wayne and Madilyn's affair started four years ago.

It was the kind of story straight out of a cheap dime novel. Madilyn was working at a café when she accidentally bumped into Wayne and spilled coffee all over him. Eventually, Wayne hired her as his secretary.

She was a terrible secretary, constantly screwing up and making her boss clean up her messes. By the time I realized something was wrong, it was already too late. They were tangled up in each other, day and night, in Wayne's office.

Ironically, I had planned to surprise Wayne for Thanksgiving that day. Opening that office door to the horror inside nearly stopped my heart.

Wayne didn't even hesitate to ask for a divorce. He said he'd give up everything, walk away with nothing, just to be with Madilyn. My whole world shattered right then and there.

Three years of love. Four years of marriage. Wayne had always been there, giving me anything I asked for. The boy who fell for me at first sight freshman year, who wrote me endless love letters, who stood outside my dorm every day promising me forever—he was gone.

I cried. I raged. I threw tantrums. I even printed their explicit photos and plastered them all over the office. In return, Wayne despised me, and we fought nonstop. He held Madilyn close and looked at me like I was the filthiest trash on earth.

“Davina, you're insane,” he sneered. “I'm filing for divorce.”

He moved out to live with Madilyn. They watched sunrises and sunsets together and flew to Iceland to see the Northern Lights. And me? I was trapped in my own private hell.

I blasted their affair across their university alumni forums and local websites, making sure everyone knew how they'd betrayed me. I branded them “homewrecker” and “cheater.”

All I wanted was revenge. But Wayne hit back even harder. He auctioned off intimate photos of me for a dollar apiece. My private pictures spread everywhere. Then he announced that anyone who could seduce me would get a million dollars.

Every time I stepped outside, sleazy men were waiting for me.

“Miss Chapman, why so cold? You were so wild in bed. I could show you I'm better than Mr. Chapman. Wanna give it a try?”

One rainy day, the second I left the house, someone dragged me into an alley. Disgusting hands ripped at my clothes, forced my legs apart. Madilyn had sent them. She stood there filming my humiliation, laughing like she was savoring every second.

She hated me for ruining her life. “Davina, did you ever think this would happen when you called me a homewrecker?”

I lay there like a broken doll, blood trickling from my mouth, but I felt nothing. My heart was just an empty hole.

When Wayne finally showed up, he didn't even glance at me. His eyes were only for Madilyn. To him, I was nothing but filth.

“Davina, you brought this on yourself. If you'd just agreed to the divorce earlier, do you think we'd be here now?”

Wayne had already filed the divorce papers with the court. One nod from me, and we could've been strangers.

But back then, I couldn't let go. I was too stubborn to divorce him. The rain hit me like slap after slap, and just when I was about to cave, Madilyn went to my grandmother Greta with the video of my humiliation.

She kept playing that video on a loop right in front of my grandmother, Greta.

When the doctor called, I couldn’t hear a single word.

“Your grandmother had a preexisting heart condition. She went into cardiac arrest and passed away before we could revive her...”

A loud buzz filled my ears, and it felt like my heart had been crushed completely.

When they pulled the white sheet over Grandma’s face, my reflection in the glass looked as ghostly and ugly as I felt inside.

I went to the police and reported Madilyn, demanding justice for Grandma Greta’s death.

But Wayne stepped in, arranging for someone else to take the fall for Madilyn.

Even though he knew Grandma Greta had raised me all on her own, Wayne went ahead with it anyway.

Seven days after Grandma passed, Wayne and Madilyn were tangled up together in a car right outside the funeral home, the vehicle visibly shaking.

Rage and hatred—every feeling blurred together—shoved me over the edge. I lost control and drove straight at them.

Blood streamed down his forehead as Wayne stared at my bloodshot eyes and wild expression. For a long moment, he said nothing.

“What will it take for you to leave us alone?” he finally asked.

I let out a dark laugh. “Only if I die.”

Wayne gave in.

He sent Madilyn away, terrified that one day, when his guard was down, I might hurt her.

For the next four years, he tried everything to become the Wayne who had once loved me.

But I always knew he’d only buried his love for Madilyn deep down.

By now, I was worn out. I didn’t want to keep torturing myself anymore.

The next morning, Wayne’s tone was gentler as he coaxed me softly.

“I had too much to drink at a client meeting yesterday. I didn’t mean to come home late. How about we eat out today—that place you mentioned last time?”

I agreed, planning to finally have a clear talk with him about the divorce.

The second we walked into the restaurant, Wayne froze.

I glanced inside.

There was only one thing that could get that reaction out of him: Madilyn.

Madilyn was sitting by the window with her new husband. Wayne’s voice came out hoarse, like he was holding something back.

“They’re here on their honeymoon. What a coincidence.”

“Should we join them?”

Before I could respond, Wayne was already hurrying over.

He didn’t even glance back at me. I rushed to keep up, stumbled, and slammed my knee into a nearby table. Sharp pain shot through me.

But Wayne had already reached Madilyn.

Clinging to the last shred of my composure, I headed for the restroom.

As I came out of the restroom, I collided with Madilyn’s new husband, Dominic.

His menacing gaze locked onto me as he clamped a hand over my mouth and nose and dragged me into the women’s restroom.

He yanked my hair viciously and slammed my head against the wall.

“Are you the one my cousin mentioned?”

“If it weren’t for you, she’d be with Wayne. I’d have Mr. Chapman in the family. And you actually dared to stand in the way of my fortune!”

With every sentence, he yanked harder, bashing my head against the wall.

Blood from my forehead seeped into my eyes, staining my vision red.

He held my mouth and nose so tightly I couldn’t make a sound.

His hot breath brushed my ear, and every word dripped venom.

“Did you really think Wayne was over my cousin?”

“My cousin’s plan was brilliant. All she had to do was say she was getting married, and Wayne came running.”

“You probably don’t know this, but Wayne has been with my cousin all week. They didn’t even bother using protection.”

I couldn’t stop shaking. I wasn’t sure if it was from anger or despair.

Then I heard a familiar moan from the stall next to me.