Les handed me the keys.

"Drive safe. I'll stay with Lila for a couple of days, then come find you."

I didn't look at him. I pulled the door open, dropped into the seat.

Key in. Turn. The engine rumbled to life.

The car didn't move.

I turned the key again. Nothing. Not even a tremor through the wheels.

I got out and found a wide dark stain spreading across the ground beneath the car.

Someone had punctured the fuel tank.

Les walked over, glanced under the chassis, and frowned.

Lila bit her lip, her voice so small it was almost a performance. "Hope… I loosened it. I just wanted a little more time with Les… I'm sorry…"

Les reached over and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, casual as breathing, as if he still had the right.

"Hey, relax," he said. "I'll get someone out here to fix it."

"Wait in the car for now." He turned, wrapping his arm around Lila. "Let me see if I can find some tools."

Lila leaned into him, then looked back at me over her shoulder.

Tears still on her face, but the corner of her mouth twitched, just slightly.

The sight of them walking away like that—his arm around her waist, her head against his shoulder—stung behind my eyes like something had been driven in.

That was when my phone buzzed.

A message from my mother: Hope, Grandma keeps calling your name. Please come back.

I stared at the words and clenched the phone until it dug into my palm.

I pulled the diamond ring off my left hand.

I had to see Grandma one last time.

I searched every corner of the rest stop.

No other cars. No other people. No tools.

The signal on my phone kept cutting in and out.

I finally found a spot with enough bars and dialed roadside assistance.

The nearest team couldn't come until tomorrow.

A section of the road had collapsed.

I hung up. Les came over.

"Hope, just leave it till tomorrow." He glanced at my arm. "Look—you've gone and scraped yourself up. Be good. Don't make me feel bad."

I ignored him.

A little while later, my phone lit up.

Grandma's number.

I answered immediately.

"Grandma."

"Hope…" Her voice was so faint. "When will you be here?"

"I'm on my way, Grandma. Soon."

"Hope, dear… Grandma misses you so much. You were so little, you'd lie across my lap and pull at my sleeve until I told you a story…"

"Grandma, don't tire yourself—"

"I'm afraid there isn't time." A small, quiet laugh. "When your grandfather went, I never got to say even one last thing to him. Hope, you be good to yourself."

My tears fell.

"Hope, that boy Les… is he good to you?"

I didn't answer.

"Hope."

Les walked up behind me.

"Give me your phone a sec," he said. "Lila's is dead. She's got a work message to send."

I gripped the phone tighter and turned my back to him.

"I'm on a call. My grandmother—"

"Yeah, I know." He stepped around in front of me. "One minute. She'll send it and I'll hand it right back."

"No."

Les's brow creased.

On the other end, Grandma was saying, "Hope? Hope, are you still there?"

"Hope." His voice went low, the way it did when he'd decided the conversation was over. "This client matters to Lila. It could decide whether she makes full-time."

"I said no."

Lila had followed him over at some point. She stood behind Les, eyes rimmed red.

"Hope… just one second… please, I'm desperate…" Her voice cracked, tears sliding down. "I won't keep it long… I'm begging you…"

Les looked at her tears, then turned back to me. His expression changed.

"Give it to me."

He reached out.

I pressed the phone behind my back.

"Les, my grandmother is in the ICU—"

He grabbed my wrist before I could finish. Wrapped his hand around my fingers and pried them open.

He was so much stronger than me.

I gripped the phone until my nails dug into my own palm.

"Les!"

He pried it free.

He turned and handed the phone to Lila.

Lila took it, tears still wet on her face, and bent her head to type.

I stood there.

Grandma Marianne's voice still echoed in my ears—that last, tentative "Hope?"

I wanted to grab it back.

Les stepped in front of me, his face hard with irritation. "One minute. You can't give her one minute?"

I looked into his eyes.

Those eyes used to be gentle when they looked at me.

Now there was nothing in them at all.

Lila finished and handed the phone back.

I looked down.

The screen was open to Lila's Instagram.

She had just posted.

The photo was of her and Les at the gas station.

His arm around her waist, her head on his shoulder.

The caption: Happy Labor Day weekend~ out with my husband, couldn't be happier ♡

I stared at that line.

My phone.

Her and my husband.

While my grandmother's last call was still on the line.

I looked up at Les.

He glanced at the screen, barely interested. "She's just playing around. What are you getting worked up for?"

Playing around.

I looked down at the phone.

The call with Grandma Marianne had ended.

I called back.

Dead. The phone was off.

I clutched the phone, shaking all over.

Les walked over. "What's wrong?"

I didn't look at him.

"My grandmother's call dropped."

"Probably ran out of battery—"

He went quiet for a few seconds.

"I'll handle it first thing tomorrow," he said. "Just calm down."

Calm down.

My grandmother could be dying right now. Could already be—

And he was telling me to calm down.

I lifted my head and looked at him.

"Les."

"Hm?"

I looked him in the eye.

"I want a divorce."

His expression finally changed.

"What did you say?"

"Divorced. We file as soon as we're back."

He stared at me for a few seconds.

"Hope—I…"

"Ahhh—!"

Lila's scream cut him off.

She was crouched by the bench, clutching her calf, her face drained white.

"A snake! There's a snake!" Her voice shook. "It bit me…"

Les looked at me.

Then turned and ran to Lila.

He crouched down and checked the wound on her calf.

Lila clung to his arm, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. "Les, am I going to die…"

"No." He tore a strip from the bottom of his shirt and tied it above the bite.

That was when the sound of an engine came from down the road.

Roadside assistance.

The tow truck pulled up and the driver jumped out. "You the ones who called?"

Les stood. He pointed at Lila. "She was bitten by a snake. She needs a hospital, now."

The driver looked at Lila's leg, then at me. "Cab only fits two. She can ride on the flatbed, but it's not safe."

Les didn't hesitate.

He pulled open the cab door and helped Lila up.

Then he turned back to me.

"Hope, just stay here. I'll take her to the hospital and send someone back for you."

"How long?" I asked.

"Soon."

Soon. Again.

He climbed in and shut the door without a second's pause.

I watched Les drive away with another woman and leave me behind.

And me? He left me here.

I stood at the rest stop, alone.

No car. No signal. No water. No food.

Les didn't look back.

He wasn't coming back. I knew that.

Not because he'd stopped caring. Because he assumed I'd wait for him.

The way I always had. Every single time he told me to wait, I waited.

I pulled my own bag out of the trunk and went through it.

Wallet. ID. One bank card. Enough.

I started walking along the highway.

I didn't know how far the nearest town was, or how long it would take to get there.

The blisters on my feet had burst a long time ago. Every step hurt. I didn't stop.

About an hour in, headlights lit up behind me.

"Hey, what are you doing out here alone?"

"Car broke down. Could you give me a ride? Just to the next town with a train station."

"Hop in."

When I reached the town, I bought the earliest ticket available.

Once I was on the bus, I borrowed a portable charger and turned my phone back on.

Dozens of messages flooded in.

Not one of them was from Les.

I called Attorney Fox directly.

"I need you to draft a divorce agreement."

"He leaves the marriage with nothing."

A pause on the other end. "Nothing? That's a tall order—unless there's serious fault on his side—"

"He cheated during the marriage. I have evidence. Also, that major client his company relies on? I'm the one who brought them in. The contract expires next month. I've already spoken with the other side. They won't be renewing."

"…Understood. I'll start drafting immediately."

I hung up and dialed my assistant.

"Rachel, book me a flight out of the country this afternoon. Anywhere. Just get me out."

"President Swanson, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said.

Two days passed before Les had his assistant reach out to me.

"Theodore, get Hope on the phone. I can't get through to her. Tell her I'm at the hospital—Lila's still in critical care, I can't leave. Have her wait at the rest stop. I'll send someone to pick her up later."

Theodore hesitated. "President Henson… President Swanson is already back."

"What?"

"President Henson, President Swanson's side… Attorney Fox sent over a divorce agreement. And Westbridge Holdings… they've sent a client termination notice."

Everything behind Les's eyes went white.

He couldn't feel his legs. Couldn't feel his hands. He just stood there, hollowed out, like something vital had been ripped clean through him.

"President Henson? Are you still there?"