Love Has Reached Its End, Never to See Each Other Again in This Lifetime

It was my fifth year at my husband Julian Cadman's company. I'd landed a major deal despite numerous painful drinks that ended with a stomach ulcer. But then Julian hands the project off to the new intern, Evelyn.

Someone leaned over to Julian and asked, "Mr. Cadman, Caroline would be pissed. Aren't you worried about it?"

Julian, arm around Evelyn, just laughed it off.

He casually remarked, "Caroline would sell her grandma to make a buck. She'll snag more clients.

Evelyn's not like her. She's got pride. She's young and chose to be with me. I can't have her feeling slighted."

After the dinner, Julian and Evelyn were making out like teenagers, stumbling into an upstairs room, clothes dropping all over the hallway.

I glanced at the pregnancy test results in my hand, feeling ice cold.

The next day, I scheduled an abortion and called back a rival company. "Mr. Gilbert, I've made up my mind. I'm ready to head to France."

***

Five years ago, my husband Julian Cadman's company, Bright Group, was nearly bankrupt.

I stayed by his side, turning down numerous offers from global giants to help him.

I had personally brought in half of Bright Group's clients over the years.

Everyone in the industry knew I was the reason the company turned around.

To land a big project, I drank so much with clients I got stomach ulcers. Anyway, I never thought Julian would give it to Evelyn Brown, some college junior intern.

Last night, I wanted to share the news of my pregnancy with Julian during our celebration dinner.

After all, we had been trying for this child for five years.

But Evelyn stole the show.

Excited, I went to find Julian, only to see him making out with Evelyn.

Julian's words kept ringing in my ears, breaking my heart all over again.

The bitterness was overwhelming. I struggled to hold back tears.

I got a call from Sebastian Gilbert, the CEO of Gilbert Group. His voice came through the phone, all cheery. "Ms. Sullivan, have made up your mind?

You're talented, and you even speak French. I want you running our French division. Your talents are being wasted at Bright Group."

I mumbled a yes. Sebastian got all excited, set up my start date, then hung up.

It struck me then. Julian had never really valued me like that.

I finally had to face it. Julian didn't care about my skills, nor did he love me as his wife.

I sat up all night. By the crack of dawn, I booked a flight to France for the next week.

At night, Julian came home with a trace of a smile.

Normally, I'd have dinner waiting for him. But today, the table was empty.

"Caroline, where's dinner?" He sighed, sounding resigned. "Mad at me? Here, I brought your favorite drink and a gift. Come on, don't be mad."

Julian tenderly took my hand and pressed it to his cold cheek, sweet-talking me like he used to.

He said, "Don't hold it against me, honey. I just feel like you don't need this project to prove yourself.

Evelyn's a talented intern. I just wanted to give her a leg up.

Sometimes, she reminds me of you back in the day."

If it weren't for the hickeys on his neck and the whiff of freesia perfume on him, I might have bought his story again.

I opened the gift box to find a necklace. It was just a promotional item that came with the latest trendy luxury ring.

That ring, worth over 600,000 dollars, was on Evelyn's finger.

And the two thousand dollar promo gift? That was Julian's gift to me.

It had been ages since I'd gotten anything from him.