Chapter 1

The silence in the dining room was a physical thing, heavy and constant. Ava and Liam sat at opposite ends of the long mahogany table, a distance that felt much larger than the ten feet separating them. It was their seventh wedding anniversary. A bottle of expensive wine Liam had brought home sat between them, unopened. The only sounds were the soft clinks of their silverware against the porcelain plates. They moved with a familiar, rehearsed grace, a quiet ballet of two people who had mastered the art of sharing a space without sharing a life.

Liam cleared his throat, the sound unnaturally loud in the quiet room. "The steak is good."

"I'm glad," Ava replied, her eyes fixed on the slice of meat she was cutting. She didn't look up at him. She hadn't really looked at him in years.

Later that evening, Ava was in her studio, the one room in the sprawling house that felt entirely hers. Blueprints were spread across her drafting table, the sharp, clean lines a comfort to her. She heard the front door open and close. Liam was home late from the hospital, as usual. His footsteps were heavy on the hardwood floor, a tired rhythm she knew by heart. She stayed in her studio, listening to him move through the house. He paused outside her door, his shadow falling across the threshold for a moment.

Ava held her breath. He never came into her studio. He respected her space, just as she respected his. After a moment, the shadow moved on, and she heard his bedroom door click shut down the hall. She let out the breath she was holding, a small, shaky thing. A faint scent, not his usual antiseptic hospital smell, but a sweet, floral perfume, drifted under her door. It was Sophia's perfume. The scent was a quiet reminder of the walls between them, the other lives they led outside this house.

Ava turned away from her work and walked to her nightstand. She picked up a small, silver-framed photograph. In it, a young man with a bright, easy smile looked back at her. Ethan. His eyes were kind, full of a warmth that she still felt, even all these years after he was gone. She traced the line of his jaw with her finger, the glass cool against her skin. He was her past, the ghost of a love so real it made her current life feel like a faded dream.

Across the hall, in his own separate bedroom, Liam was doing something similar. He sat on the edge of his bed, scrolling through photos on his phone. He stopped on one of Sophia, her arm linked through his, both of them smiling at the camera. She was a nurse he' d met on a medical mission overseas. He remembered the chaos, the heat, the feeling of saving a life together. He owed Sophia, he always felt. She had been there during a difficult time, a beacon of compassion. He felt a deep sense of duty towards her, a bond forged in crisis.

Their marriage had been a transaction from the start. A pact made seven years ago in a lawyer's office, their families smiling in the background, pleased with the strategic alliance. "We'll give it seven years," Liam had said, his voice flat, professional. "For the family's sake. After that, we go our separate ways. No emotional attachments, no interference in each other's private lives." Ava had simply nodded, her heart already a hollow space filled with the memory of Ethan. It was a contract, and they had both honored its terms perfectly.

But seven years was a long time to live in an emotional void. The quiet of the house had started to feel suffocating. Last week, a friend who had moved to London described her new life, the vibrant city, the sense of freedom. She also mentioned a man she' d met, a kind-hearted academic at the university.

"You won't believe it, Ava," she'd said over the phone, "he looks so much like Ethan. Same eyes." The words had planted a seed of hope in Ava's mind, a possibility she hadn't allowed herself to consider for years. That night, she had stayed up late, researching immigration procedures, filling out forms. The documents were now saved on her laptop, a secret promise of a future.

Tonight, after Liam was asleep, Ava opened her laptop again. She navigated to the folder labeled "New Life." Inside was a single file: a finalized divorce agreement she had drafted herself.

It was simple, straightforward, just like their marriage. No alimony, no messy division of assets. Just a clean break. She attached the file to an email addressed to her lawyer, the subject line reading, "To be filed in one month." She hovered her finger over the send button.

Unbeknownst to her, Liam's family had already accepted a prestigious research position for him in Boston, a continent away. They both had escape plans, moving on parallel tracks, destined to finally diverge. Ava took a deep breath and clicked send. The decision was made. The seven-year contract was nearing its end.