Chapter 5

The taxi sped away from the hotel. Amelia leaned her head back against the worn upholstery, closing her eyes.

Ethan's questions, his sudden, belated interest in the archaeology of her feelings, were unsettling.

She had almost reached the finish line; her new life was mere days from its commencement. She could not permit him to derail her now.

A black SUV, Ethan's, drew alongside the cab at a red light.

He lowered the window. "Amelia, get in. We need to talk."

His voice was not a request, but a command.

The cab driver glanced at her, then at Ethan, then back at her, his apprehension palpable.

"Ma'am?"

Amelia sighed. A public spectacle was the last thing she desired.

"Fine," she said, more to herself than to him. She paid the cabbie and reluctantly alighted.

She slid into the passenger seat of Ethan's SUV. The familiar scent of expensive leather and his subtle cologne invaded her senses.

He pulled away from the curb, driving without apparent destination through the city streets.

The silence in the vehicle was thick, charged with unspoken history.

Amelia stared out the window, watching the city lights smear into ribbons of color, refusing to look at him.

She would not engage. She would not be drawn back into his sphere of influence.

Ethan finally broke the silence, his voice tight.

"So, this divorce," he began, "you are truly proceeding with it? No second thoughts? No last-minute appeals?"

He still could not entirely credit it. He expected her to capitulate, to confess this was all an elaborate ploy.

Amelia turned to him, her expression placid, almost serene.

"Ethan," she said, her voice even, "in exactly six days, our divorce will be rendered final by the courts. I have never been more certain of any course of action in my life."

Her conviction, her utter absence of doubt, seemed to deflate him.

His phone rang, shattering the tense atmosphere. Jessica's ringtone.

He glanced at the screen, his jaw tightening. He ignored it.

It rang again, insistent.

He swore under his breath and answered, his voice clipped. "What is it, Jessica? I am occupied."

Jessica's voice, frantic and lachrymose, crackled through the speaker. "Ethan! Oh, Ethan, you must come! He is here! He means to do me harm!"

Ethan's demeanor shifted instantly. "Who, Jess? Who is there? Where are you?"

He wrenched the steering wheel, executing a sharp U-turn, the tires protesting against the asphalt. Amelia was thrown against the door.

"I am at the old warehouse district, near the pier! He followed me! Please, Ethan, you must make haste!" Jessica sobbed.

Ethan accelerated, driving with a reckless disregard, his face a mask of grim concern.

Amelia, once again, was forgotten, a reluctant passenger in the ongoing drama of his life.

She followed Ethan as he sprinted towards a dimly lit warehouse.

The scene within was a contrivance of the highest order, a tableau of manufactured peril.

Jessica stood in the center of a circle of flickering candles, a profusion of red roses scattered at her feet.

A young man, handsome but with a wild, desperate look in his eyes, knelt before her, holding a single rose.

The moment Jessica saw Ethan, her expression shifted from feigned fear to theatrical distress.

"Ethan!" she cried, rushing towards him, stumbling artfully. "Oh, thank God you are here! He is mad! He will not leave me in peace!"

She buried her face in Ethan's chest, her shoulders heaving with sobs.

The young man, clearly bewildered by this turn of events, stood up, his face flushed.

"Jessica? I only wished to speak with you," he said, his voice pleading. "I love you."

The young man, whose name Amelia vaguely recalled as David, turned to Ethan, his eyes flashing with a desperate anger.

"And you!" he spat, pointing a trembling finger at Ethan. "The society pages are filled with your exploits, your constant companion at your side, while your wife is rendered a ghost in her own home! Do you imagine for a moment that people do not speak of it? Of the casual cruelty of your disregard?"

His words, raw and accusatory, struck a nerve.

Ethan's face darkened. "Get out," he growled. "Before I summon the police."

Ethan pushed Jessica gently behind him. "This marriage, this life... it was a cage, Amelia," he said, his voice low, directed at her but loud enough for David to hear. "Jessica is the only woman I have ever truly loved. I would do anything for her."

Amelia flinched. A cage. That is what she had been to him. His words, meant as a justification to David, were a fresh, clean stab to her already scarred heart.

She had known, of course. But to hear him state it so plainly...

David, enraged by Jessica's continued rejection and Ethan's dismissive arrogance, seemed to snap.

He produced a small, wicked-looking knife from his pocket.

"If I cannot have you, Jessica," he hissed, his eyes wild, "then no one will!"

He lunged towards Jessica.

Amelia screamed, a pure, instinctive cry of warning.

Ethan reacted instantly, shoving Jessica aside.

He moved to intercept David, shielding Jessica with his own body.

The knife arced.

Ethan cried out, a sharp, guttural gasp of pain, as the blade drew a line of fire across his arm.

It was not deep, more a superficial gash, but blood welled instantly, a vivid crimson against the white of his shirt.

David, horrified by his own action, dropped the knife and stumbled back.

Jessica screamed, a high-pitched, theatrical sound.