Chapter 3 Goodbye, Callum

Callum brushed the concern aside without a second thought.

He convinced himself that Olivia was just exhausted and moody from a bad night's sleep.

In his mind, Olivia was the picture of health, while Kaylee was the one who actually needed his protection and medical care.

Callum looked down, his jaw tightening in the silence before he stepped out of the vehicle.

"It's time," he said shortly.

He figured Olivia's resentment was only temporary. Once they remarried in a year, he planned to settle the score and give her whatever she wanted to make things right.

They walked into the courthouse in single file. Using his influence, Callum had arranged for them to skip the lines and receive immediate attention.

The moment they were seated, Olivia pulled a prepared divorce agreement from her bag and passed it across to the official.

Callum's face clouded with irritation, his palm slamming down on the documents to stop them. "What do you think you're doing?"

Olivia turned her head, meeting his gaze directly.

He looked every bit the aristocrat, carrying himself with a polished, distant grace that always made him stand out.

Even now, his looks were a weapon. She couldn't stop the involuntary skip of her heart; he was still the most handsome man she had ever seen.

She had walked down the aisle with a heart full of hope, believing they were building a life together. Now, she realized it had all been a shimmering, heartless lie.

A ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "This is how it works, Callum. We sign the papers, and the marriage ends. I'm just following the legal steps."

She acted as if a sudden thought had struck her. "Oh, that's right. You haven't added your signature yet."

She nudged his hand off the paper, flipped to the final page, and held out a pen. "I'm not asking for a settlement. I'm leaving with exactly what I brought in."

The atmosphere turned suffocating as Callum's temper began to flare, his eyes burning with a dark intensity.

Nothing infuriated him more than losing his grip on a situation. He ignored the pen, his voice dropping to a frigid tone. "If this is a play for more money or assets, stop hiding behind fine print and just name your price."

Her eyes were hollow, reflecting the quiet desperation of someone who had been pushed past their breaking point.

The constant agony had finally burned itself out, leaving behind a flat, manageable numbness where her heart used to be.

After a lifetime of devotion and giving him every part of herself, she was staggered to realize he still viewed her as nothing more than a gold-digger chasing the Jackson family's fortune.

The irony was bitter.

She pulled her hand away, her face a mask of calm. "There's no rush. Please, read every word so there are no misunderstandings."

The division of assets remained unchanged-she was walking away with zero. She had even inserted a new clause. "Every gift, every luxury, and even the wedding ring was to be returned to Callum Jackson's possession immediately."

A sudden, inexplicable jolt of panic hit Callum's chest. For a split second, he had the terrifying realization that she wasn't bluffing; she actually wanted out.

The mention of the ring was the hardest blow.

He knew she cherished it above everything else, and seeing her discard it so easily felt wrong.

But the feeling vanished as quickly as it had come, replaced by a familiar wave of annoyance.

He rationalized it all. The moodiness, the ready-made contract, the pressure to sign-he saw it as a desperate, calculated move of hers to see if he would cave.

He was convinced she was incapable of leaving him. In his eyes, this was just an elaborate performance designed to make him stay.

But he refused to play her game.

The memory of Kaylee's fragile, pleading face flashed in his mind, fueling his resolve. With a sharp ache of sympathy for Kaylee, he gripped the pen and scrawled his signature across the line.

His handwriting was bold and authoritative, a reflection of his need to dominate every situation.

Callum shoved the papers back toward her, his eyes burning with a dark, suppressed fury. "You played your hand too aggressively this time. Just make sure you can live with the consequences."

The bureaucracy moved with chilling efficiency. The clock began ticking on the mandatory waiting period before the marriage officially dissolved.

Without a word, Olivia rose and made her way toward the exit.

The absurdity of it hit her. She was literally dying, yet she was spending her remaining hours checking off legal boxes for a divorce.

She let out a dry, hollow laugh. The harsh midday sun sent a wave of vertigo through her, draining the last of the color from her skin as she raised a hand to block out the light.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over her. Callum stepped into her line of sight, his broad frame shielding her from the sun and providing a fleeting, accidental moment of relief.

Olivia felt a crushing weight in her chest, like a hammer blow to the heart, while a sharp sting of unshed tears burned behind her eyelids.

However, the painful reality remained... The man standing in front of her was no longer the sanctuary he once was.

She moved out of his way, her lips curving into a ghost of a smile. "Goodbye, Callum," she said softly.

A sudden memory flashed through Callum's mind. He could clearly see the day they got married, and Olivia's beaming face as she teased, "Hello, Callum! I'm your wife, Olivia!"

At that moment, their shared happiness had been absolute.

He felt a strange tug in his chest, a fleeting sensation that perhaps their bond was still intact.

Callum convinced himself that they would be remarried within the year anyway, so this separation was nothing more than a temporary shift.

"Since the paperwork is finished, you should go home," he said, turning his back to walk away.

Olivia gave a slow shake of her head. "I'm not going back there."

Callum's brow furrowed as he turned to look at her in confusion.

Olivia faced him with a level of composure he had never witnessed before. "I've already packed my essentials, so there's no reason to return. You can just toss the rest of my things. Now that the divorce is filed, we need to live separate lives. I'm not going to hang around and be an obstacle for you."

Callum dismissed her words, assuming this was just another one of her dramatic moods, so he didn't bother arguing.

He simply gave her a long, intense look. "Have it your way," he said.

In his mind, he and Olivia had decades of time ahead, whereas Kaylee was facing a terminal illness with only a year left; he believed Kaylee simply had the more urgent need for his presence.

They both turned away simultaneously, their paths finally diverging as they walked in completely different directions.