My breath hitched. My acceptance letters. Why did he have them? A surge of protective instinct, primal and fierce, coursed through me. I lunged forward, snatching the stack of envelopes from his hand. The paper crinkled under my desperate grip.

Jax stared at me, his eyes widening slightly in surprise, then narrowed in annoyance. "What was that for, Kylie? Relax. I was just getting the mail." He sounded genuinely put out, as if I had overreacted to a perfectly normal gesture.

"Why were you opening my mail?" I demanded, my voice sharp, a tremor running through it despite my attempt at control. "These are my private letters."

He scoffed, leaning against the doorframe, a picture of casual arrogance. "What's the big deal? We're practically married, Kylie. We share everything. I've opened your mail a million times." He gestured vaguely between us. "It's ours."

"No," I said, my voice firm, each word a hammer blow against the crumbling edifice of our past. "It's mine. And there is no 'us' anymore, Jax. Not after last night. Not ever."

I ripped open the top envelope, a thick one from Napa Valley University. My acceptance letter, confirming my scholarship, was there. I pulled out the enrollment forms, grabbed a pen from the kitchen counter, and signed them with a flourish, my signature trembling slightly, but resolute. This was my decision, my future.

Jax watched me, his smug expression slowly dissolving into something unreadable. "What about my mail?" he asked, a hint of unease in his voice. "Didn't anything come for me?"

Just then, the mail carrier, a friendly woman named Brenda, walked by, pushing her cart. "Oh, hello Jax, Kylie!" she chirped. "Just your mail today, Kylie. Nothing for you, Jax, sorry!" She gave us a cheerful wave and continued down the hall.

Jax's jaw tightened. He looked at me, a flicker of suspicion in his eyes. "You really went through with it, didn't you? You actually broke up with me." There was a trace of disbelief, an almost childish confusion, in his tone. He still didn't quite grasp the finality of it.

Before I could reply, his phone buzzed. A bright, insistent ringtone, one he had assigned specifically to Cinda. He pulled it out, his gaze still on me, but his attention already shifting.

"Oh, Jax, it's so awful!" Cinda's voice shrieked from the speaker, tinny and distorted. "My new kitten, he's stuck in the tree! And the fire department won't come, they said it's not an emergency! What am I going to do, Jax? He's so tiny! I'm so scared!"

Jax's face crumpled, all traces of annoyance and confusion vanishing, replaced by instant concern. "A kitten? Stuck in a tree? Cinda, relax, I'm coming! Don't you dare go near that tree, you hear me? I'll be right there." He snapped his phone shut, already halfway out the door. He didn't even look at me. Not a glance. Not a word. He just left. Again.

I watched him go, a strange sense of calm settling over me. The knot in my stomach, the one that had been tightening for months, finally loosened. He had chosen. And with his every hasty exit, his every dismissive word, he had only solidified my resolve. A kitten in a tree. It was almost comical in its predictability.

I turned back into the apartment, the silence deafening. But it wasn't an empty silence. It was the sound of freedom. I started systematically packing my belongings. This time, there were no tears, no dramatic declarations. Just a quiet, focused determination. Every shirt, every book, every culinary tool I owned was carefully folded, placed in boxes, ready for my new life.

Later that evening, while taking a break from packing, I absentmindedly scrolled through my social media feed. There he was. Jax. A photo of him, grinning, holding a fluffy white kitten in one arm, and Cinda, beaming, in the other. The caption read: "My hero! Jax saved my precious Mittens! So much braver than some people I know who just cause drama. #myguy #hero #soblessed."

A flicker of something-was it pain? jealousy? no-passed through me. It was just... nothing. A dull, distant throb, like an old injury. My heart, once so vibrant and easily wounded, now felt like a scarred, impenetrable wall. He could post whatever he wanted. It meant nothing to me. Because I had finally understood. My worth was not determined by his validation, or his presence, or his twisted love. It was determined by me. And I was finally strong enough to claim it.

Chapter 5

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