Chapter 2

Cole James POV:

I pushed open the heavy oak door of "Le Jardin Secret," the scent of fresh bread and simmering reductions wrapping around me like a comforting blanket. It was a new day, a new start. My start.

The kitchen was already alive, a symphony of clanging pots and hushed instructions. I walked through, greeting my team, a genuine smile on my face. This was my world now. This was where I belonged.

Emily.

Her name, a whispered curse in the back of my mind, still had the power to make my stomach clench. But it was no longer a pain of longing, but a dull ache of memory, a phantom limb.

I had loved her, truly. With a devotion that bordered on insanity. I saw the vulnerability beneath her ruthless exterior, the little girl who craved love but pushed it away. I believed I could heal her, could be her safe harbor.

Fool.

I remember the first time I saw her at that pretentious charity gala. She was a vision in emerald green, commanding the room with a single glance. Everyone around her seemed to shrink, but I was captivated. She was a force, a storm, and I, a mere chef, was drawn to her like a moth to a flame.

I watched her for months, from afar. I saw the way she looked at Bryant, her college sweetheart. Her eyes, usually so sharp and calculating, would soften, almost sparkle. It was a love I desperately wished she would turn on me.

He was a whirlwind, a destructive charisma that thrived on chaos. He broke her heart countless times, leaving her to pick up the pieces. And each time, I was there, a silent shadow, offering comfort, a shoulder to cry on. I cooked for her, cleaned for her, listened to her rants about him. I believed that one day, she would see me.

For five years, I loved her in secret, a silent film playing in my heart. Then, Bryant, in his usual dramatic fashion, called off their engagement for the third time. Emily was shattered, a broken doll. Her family, tired of his antics, pushed her into arranged dates.

My heart pounded when I heard the news. This was my chance. I pulled strings, called in favors, anything to get a seat at one of those dreadful dinners. I even bought a suit, one exactly like Bryant's, hoping she would see something familiar, something safe, in me.

She did.

"Marry me," she said that night, her eyes vacant, her voice flat. Not because she loved me, but because I was "safe." I was a pale imitation of the man who had tormented her, a comforting echo of her pain.

I knew. I knew I was a replacement, a convenient bandage for a gushing wound. But I loved her so much, I accepted. I believed my love, my unwavering devotion, would eventually win her over.

It didn't.

Our marriage was a gilded cage. She gave me everything money could buy – a beautiful home, unlimited resources for my culinary dreams, a golden retriever named Buddy. But she never gave me her heart. It was always tethered to Bryant, a toxic cord connecting them across an ocean of my silent suffering.

She would praise my cooking, my attentiveness, my quiet strength. But her eyes would often drift, lost in some memory of him. Sometimes, when she was stressed, or after a long day, she would lean into my touch, her body seeking comfort. But then, in her sleep, she would whisper his name.

I pretended not to hear. I endured. For five years, I lived in that purgatory of unrequited love, a constant second choice.

Then, Bryant came back.

It was a Tuesday. I had been feeling unwell for days, a gnawing pain in my gut that I tried to ignore. Emily had been distant, preoccupied with a new business deal. I was preparing dinner, a special dish I knew she loved, hoping to pierce through her emotional armor, just for a moment.

The doorbell rang. It was Bryant. Again.

He was drunk, as usual, demanding to see Emily. I tried to send him away, but he was persistent, belligerent. We argued, a low, simmering tension that had been building for years. He lunged at me, a clumsy, drunken blow. I sidestepped, and he stumbled, falling awkwardly. He cried out, clutching his arm.

Just then, Emily walked in.

Her eyes, usually so discerning, saw only him. Her toxic loyalty, a disease I could never cure, flared instantly.

"What did you do to him, Cole?" she demanded, her voice sharp, devoid of any concern for me.

The pain in my gut twisted, a searing fire. I doubled over, my breath catching in my throat.

"Emily... I'm... I'm not well," I gasped, clutching my stomach.

She didn't even look at me. Her gaze was fixed on Bryant, who was now dramatically moaning on the floor.

"Stop being so dramatic, Cole," she snapped, her voice dripping with disdain. "Can't you see Bryant is hurt?"

She rushed to him, helping him up, her arm around his waist. He leaned into her, grinning triumphantly at me. It was too much. The pain, the betrayal, the crushing realization that I was utterly, completely invisible to her.

I collapsed onto the kitchen floor, the hot metal of the oven rack pressing into my cheek. My vision blurred. I fumbled for my phone, my fingers slick with sweat. Dialing 911 was an act of pure will.

She didn't notice. She was already out the door, Bryant draped over her, rushing him to some private clinic. She left me there, bleeding, dying, on the cold kitchen tiles. Alone.

That was the moment. The precise, agonizing moment my love for her died. It didn't fade, it didn't wither. It snapped. A brittle, final break.

When I woke up in the hospital, the doctor explained it was a perforated ulcer, stress-induced. A silent killer that had been eating away at me for years, just as her neglect had. Emily was there, finally. Her face was pale, her eyes wide with a fear that seemed alien to her.

"Cole, I'm so sorry," she whispered, her hand reaching for mine.

I flinched. The touch felt foreign, unwelcome.

"Bryant... he said you attacked him. I panicked. I didn't know," she stammered, tears welling in her eyes.

"You left me to die, Emily," I said, my voice hoarse, devoid of emotion. "You chose him. Again."

Her face crumpled. "I swear, I didn't know how serious it was! I'll make it up to you, Cole. Anything. I promise."

But her words were hollow, an empty echo in a heart that had long since died. I looked at her, truly looked at her, and saw nothing. No love, no anger, no pain. Just a vast, empty space.

That night, lying in that sterile hospital bed, I made a decision. A quiet, resolute decision that would change the course of my life. I started researching job offers, dusting off old contacts. Paris. A culinary dream I had once dismissed as impossible.

I secretly contacted a lawyer, initiating divorce proceedings. I didn't want to fight, didn't want drama. I just wanted out. Out of her life, out of her shadow, out of the gilded cage that had almost become my tomb.

Let her keep the house, the money, the life we had built. It was all tainted anyway. All I wanted was my freedom, my peace.

I looked at the woman who had been my wife for five years, the woman I had loved with every fiber of my being. She was a stranger now. A beautiful, powerful stranger who had unknowingly killed the very thing that sustained her.

"I don't love you anymore, Emily," I said, my voice flat, emotionless. "There's nothing left." My final confession, my silent farewell.