Introduction

The Montauk Highway rain slammed against our windshield, just like my stomach cramped with familiar, sharp pain.

Marcus drove, his knuckles white, until his phone flashed 'Izzy.'

My husband, always her loyal puppy, was gone in a flash.

"Ellie, call an Uber. Izzy needs me," he' d declared, abandoning me sick and alone on that dark road.

It was the ninth time Marcus chose his ex-girlfriend over me, his wife.

The 'ninth goodbye' in a cruel bet Izzy orchestrated years ago: "Nine times, Ellie. Nine. Then you walk away."

Each incident a deeper cut: my anniversary dinner, my emergency surgery, my grandmother' s memorial.

I was just his convenient rebound, his 'consolation prize,' a pawn in their twisted game.

Days later, after an elevator accident left me shattered and hospitalized, Marcus cradled Izzy, his terror only for her.

I finally saw it with chilling clarity: he never truly loved me.

My marriage was a meticulously crafted lie, orchestrated by Izzy from college.

My love for him, that foolish, stubborn hope, was finally drained, leaving only an aching void.

But the game was over.

I had already signed the divorce papers he carelessly overlooked, ready for my freedom.

When Izzy later set a vicious trap to publicly shame me, accusing me of assault, a mysterious stranger stepped in, changing everything.

This was the end of a nightmare, and the beginning of my true life.