Chapter 3

The air in the office crackled with a tension so thick I could feel it on my skin. Sophia' s face had gone from disbelief to a cold, controlled fury. The silence stretched on, broken only by the hum of the computer.

"A divorce?" she finally said, her voice dripping with contempt. "Are you serious, Liam? After everything I've done for you? After the life I've given you?"

"The life you've given me?" I almost laughed. "Sophia, I'm the one who gave up my life so you could have yours. I'm the one who runs this house, who raises your children."

"My children?" she shot back, her voice rising. "They're your children too! And you're their father, it's your job! You think cooking a few meals and washing some clothes is some grand sacrifice? I'm the one out there earning the money that pays for this house, this car, the fancy schools the kids go to. What would you do without me? You'd have nothing."

Her words were meant to cut, to put me back in my place. A few months ago, they would have worked. But now, they just sounded hollow.

The shouting had drawn an audience. Lucas and Mia appeared in the doorway, their faces a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

"What's going on?" Lucas asked. "Why are you yelling?"

Sophia turned to them, her expression softening into one of a victim. "Your father is being very silly. He's saying he wants to leave us."

I saw Mia's eyes light up, a flicker of something that I couldn't comprehend at first. Then she spoke, and my world tilted on its axis.

"Does that mean Uncle Ethan can come live with us?" she asked, her voice filled with genuine excitement. "He could be our new dad!"

Lucas nodded eagerly. "Yeah! That would be awesome! He's way more fun than Dad."

The words hit me with the force of a physical blow. I stared at my children, at their bright, hopeful faces, and I felt something inside me break. It wasn't just the casual cruelty; it was the realization that they had already replaced me in their hearts. They had been coached, influenced by Sophia's constant praise of Ethan and her subtle, daily put-downs of me.

I thought back to the beginning. When we first found out Sophia was pregnant with Lucas, her career was just taking off. I was a sous-chef at a promising restaurant, working my way up. We decided together that one of us should stay home, to give our kids a stable foundation. I volunteered. I loved the idea of being a hands-on father. I had loved Sophia so much, I believed her when she said it was a partnership, a joint sacrifice for our future.

But over the years, the partnership dissolved. My role became devalued, taken for granted. I became the hired help she didn't have to pay. And she, in turn, had reconnected with Ethan. They had a brief, intense romance in college before I met her. A romance she'd always described as a 'youthful fling'. Now I saw it for what it was: an unresolved history she was eagerly revisiting, pulling our children into the fantasy.

They didn't just prefer Ethan. They actively wanted him to take my place. I was an obstacle to their perfect new family. The cut on my hand was a dull ache now, a distant pain compared to the gaping wound in my chest. I was utterly, completely alone in this family I had built.

I turned away from their eager faces and walked over to the bookshelf. Behind a row of Sophia' s business textbooks, I pulled out a manila folder. I had seen a lawyer a month ago, a secret act of self-preservation. I had the documents printed and ready, just in case. I guess 'in case' was now.

I placed the folder on the desk in front of Sophia. "I'm not being silly," I said, my voice flat. "These are divorce papers. I've already signed them."

Sophia' s eyes widened as she saw the official documents. Her face turned pale, then flushed with a deep, furious red. The pretense of control shattered.

"You went behind my back?" she hissed. "You planned this?"

Before I could answer, she snatched the papers from the desk. With a strength I didn't know she possessed, she ripped the thick stack of paper in half, then in half again, the sound tearing through the silent room. She threw the shredded pieces onto the floor like confetti.

"There," she said, her chest heaving. "There are your divorce papers. Now get out of my office."

I looked at the ruined documents on the floor, then back at her defiant, angry face. I didn't feel defeated. I felt free. The act was so childish, so transparently desperate, that it confirmed everything for me. This was not a partnership to be saved. It was a cage to be escaped.

Without another word, I turned around. I walked past my children, who were staring at me with confused, slightly fearful expressions. I didn't look at them. I walked out of the office, through the living room, and straight to the front door.

"Where are you going, Liam?" Sophia screamed from behind me. "You can't just walk out! Liam!"

I opened the door and stepped out into the cool night air. I let the door swing shut behind me, not slamming it, just closing it firmly on that chapter of my life. I didn't have a plan. I didn't have a destination. But for the first time in a very long time, I was moving forward.