Chapter 2
I stared at the divorce papers spread across my kitchen table, each document a piece of armor I was finally allowing myself to wear. Two years of silent suffering had brought me here—to this moment of decision. My fingers trembled as I organized the financial records, property assessments, and the separation agreement my attorney had prepared. The morning light streaming through the windows felt like a spotlight on my rebellion.
Two days ago, I'd met with Mr. Harrison, a divorce attorney known for handling high-profile separations with discretion. His office had felt like a confessional booth, a place where I could finally speak the unspeakable.
"Mrs. King," he'd said, his voice gentle but firm, "from what you've told me, this isn't a marriage—it's a prison sentence."
I'd laughed then, a hollow sound that surprised even me. "A prison where the warden never visits."
Now, with the papers before me, the reality of what I was about to do sent waves of both terror and exhilaration through my body. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and checked my watch. Lucas would be in his home office for another hour at least. He kept to a rigid schedule, even in his absence from my life.
I gathered the documents into a leather portfolio—a Christmas gift from Lucas's assistant James, probably purchased on my husband's corporate account without his knowledge. How fitting that it would now carry the end of our farce of a marriage.
The walk to Lucas's office felt like crossing a battlefield. Each step down the long corridor echoed against the marble floors, announcing my approach. I'd rehearsed what I would say a hundred times in my mind, but my mouth had gone dry, and my heart hammered against my ribs.
I knocked twice on the heavy oak door.
"Enter," came his clipped response.
Lucas sat behind his massive desk, his attention fixed on his laptop screen. He didn't look up as I entered, his fingers continuing to dance across the keyboard. The afternoon sun cast half his face in shadow, highlighting the sharp angle of his jaw and the slight furrow between his brows.
"I need to speak with you," I said, proud that my voice didn't waver.
"Make it quick. I have a conference call in fifteen minutes." Still, he didn't look at me.
I placed the portfolio on his desk and slid it toward him. "These are divorce papers. I'm asking for a clean break—no alimony, no extended legal battle. I just want out."
The typing stopped. For several heartbeats, Lucas remained perfectly still, his eyes fixed on the screen as if he hadn't heard me. Then, slowly, he raised his gaze to mine.
The coldness I expected wasn't there. Instead, something dark and primal flashed in his eyes—something I'd never seen before.
"What did you say?" His voice was dangerously soft.
I squared my shoulders. "I want a divorce, Lucas. This marriage—whatever this is—it's over."
He didn't move at first. Then, with deliberate slowness, he closed his laptop and stood. The sudden movement made me step back instinctively.
"A divorce." He tested the word as if it were poison on his tongue.
Before I could respond, he swept his arm across his desk, sending papers, pens, and his laptop crashing to the floor. The violence of the action froze me in place.
He snatched up the portfolio, pulled out the papers, and began tearing them—methodically, deliberately—into pieces.
"You dare?" His voice rose with each word. "You dare try to leave me?"
I'd never seen Lucas lose control. In two years of marriage, he'd been nothing but cold precision and calculated distance. This man—this seething, rage-filled stranger—terrified me.
"Lucas, please—" I began, but he cut me off.
"Try it!" he shouted, throwing the torn papers at me like confetti. "Try to leave and see what happens!"
I backed toward the door, my hands shaking. "This isn't normal. This isn't a marriage—"
"You are my wife!" He slammed his fist on what remained on his desk, making me jump. "Mine! You signed those papers two years ago, and you will honor them until I say otherwise!"
I fled his office, the sound of something shattering against the wall following me down the corridor. As I locked myself in my bedroom, one thought kept circling in my mind: In two years of neglect and indifference, I'd never seen Lucas show that much passion about anything related to me.
What I couldn't understand was why the man who had treated me as invisible for two years was now so desperate to keep me from leaving.