Chapter 3

The migraines started soon after.

Blinding, throbbing pain that left Mia weak and disoriented.

Ethan found her curled on the bed one afternoon, a cold compress pressed to her forehead.

"Mia, honey, what' s wrong?" His voice was laced with concern, his hand cool on her cheek. "You look terrible. Should I call Dr. Evans?"

She shook her head slightly. "Just a headache. It' ll pass."

The lie felt surprisingly easy on her tongue now. She was learning from the master.

Later, when the pain had subsided to a dull ache, she sat with him on the veranda, watching the sunset paint the Napa hills in shades of orange and purple.

"Ethan," she began, her voice carefully casual, "if someone... if someone you trusted, someone you loved, betrayed you... really betrayed you, in the worst way... could you ever forgive them?"

He turned to her, his expression serious. He took her hand.

"Mia, what a question. Of course not. Betrayal is... unthinkable. Especially with someone you love. Why do you ask?"

"Just... thinking," she said, looking away. "A plot for a book, maybe."

He pulled her closer. "Don' t even think about such things, my love. What we have is real. It' s forever. I would never, ever betray you. You are my everything."

His words, once a comfort, now felt like shards of glass.

Just then, his second phone, the one he kept so carefully hidden, buzzed from inside his jacket pocket.

He glanced at it, his face tightening almost imperceptibly.

"Sorry, Mia. Urgent call from Eternity. A server issue. I have to take this." He stood up, already moving towards his study. "I' ll be quick."

He didn' t come back for over an hour.

The next day, Mia used her burner phone. She called Ethan' s office, her voice disguised, claiming to be from a courier service with an urgent, time-sensitive delivery for him personally.

His secretary, flustered, informed her that Mr. Cole was in "all-day critical meetings, completely off-grid."

But Mia already knew. Her PI, hired through the consultant, was efficient.

Ethan wasn' t in meetings. He was at a boutique, ultra-exclusive hotel in Big Sur. A place notorious for discreet trysts.

He had checked in with Skyler Reed.

Mia saw the emailed photos from the PI. Ethan and Skyler, laughing, his arm around her waist as they walked into the hotel lobby. Skyler, looking up at him with adoration.

The same way Mia used to look at him.

She remembered their wedding vows. "To be faithful... in sickness and in health... for richer or poorer..."

All broken. Every single one.

Forgive him?

Never.

The decision, already made, solidified into something unbreakable within her.

She began the quiet process of divesting.

The "Mia Constellation" pieces – the necklace, the earrings, the new bracelet – were consigned to a prestigious international auction house. A confidential agreement. No names.

The rare books from the Hayes Wing, his grand gesture to her passion, were carefully packed. Anonymously donated to smaller, struggling university libraries across the country. Places that truly needed them.

She was erasing him, piece by piece.