Chapter 2

The smoke was thick, choking me. I lay on the floor, the fire alarm a piercing shriek in my ears, and watched the spot where Mark had disappeared with Emily. The heat was intense, blistering my exposed skin. He had left me. He had looked right at me, seen me bleeding on the floor, and he had chosen her.

My leg was a mess of blood and twisted metal. My arm felt like it was on fire from a different, deeper burn. I tried to crawl, but the movement sent a wave of agony through my body that made me black out for a second. When I came to, I could hear sirens in the distance. They sounded very, very far away.

The firefighters found me unconscious, half-buried under a collapsed section of the ceiling.

I woke up to the sterile white of a hospital room. A dull, throbbing pain radiated from my leg, which was now encased in a heavy cast. My arm was bandaged tightly. I tried to sit up, but a sharp pain in my ribs pushed me back down.

My best friend, Jessica Chen, was sitting in a chair by the bed, her face pale with worry.

"Sarah! You're awake," she said, rushing to my side. "Don't try to move. You're lucky to be alive. You have a compound fracture in your tibia, second-degree burns on your arm, and three broken ribs."

My throat was raw. "Mark?" I rasped.

Jessica's expression tightened. "He's here. At the hospital."

A small, pathetic bubble of hope rose in my chest. He was here. He came back for me.

"Where is he?"

Jessica hesitated, chewing on her lip. "He's... with Emily. In the VIP suite on the top floor."

The bubble burst, leaving a cold, empty void.

"What?"

"She inhaled some smoke," Jessica said, her voice laced with contempt. "Just some minor irritation. But Mark insisted she get the best room, a full team of specialists. He's been with her ever since you both arrived."

I stared at the ceiling, the white tiles blurring. He had abandoned me in a fire. He had let me lie there while he saved someone who was barely in danger. And now, he was dedicating all the resources, all his attention, to her, while I was here, broken and burned. He hadn't even come to check on me.

The full weight of his betrayal settled in my bones. It wasn't just a moment of panic in a crisis. It was a complete and total transfer of allegiance. The novel wasn't just a story; it was a cage, and he had willingly walked into it, locking the door behind him.

I thought of his promises. The only person I love is you. The words were ash in my mouth. For three years, I had lived in a beautiful, carefully constructed lie. Our success, our marriage, our love-it was all just the prologue to someone else's story.

A nurse came in to check my vitals.

"How are you feeling, Ms. Miller?" she asked gently.

"Have you seen my husband? Mark Johnson?" I asked, my voice flat.

"Oh, Mr. Johnson?" she said, a little too brightly. "He's been so worried! He's made sure that poor young lady upstairs has the best of everything. He told us to spare no expense for her. A very dedicated man."

Each word was a new cut. He was dedicated, just not to me. Not anymore. I was the obstacle, the leftover from a previous chapter that needed to be cleared away.

The pain from my injuries was a distant hum compared to the hollow ache in my chest. This was a pain no medicine could touch. It was the pain of being erased.

I lay there in the quiet room, listening to the rhythmic beep of the heart monitor. Beep. Beep. Beep. A steady, mechanical rhythm that felt like a clock ticking down on my old life. There was no confusion left, no hope, no room for denial. There was only the cold, hard clarity of the truth.

He had made his choice.

Now, I had to make mine.

I looked at Jessica, my eyes clear and dry.

"Jess," I said, my voice gaining a sliver of strength. "Can you get me my lawyer's number? I need to make a call."

Jessica's eyes widened, and then a slow, fierce smile spread across her face.

"Absolutely," she said. "It's time to burn it all down. Metaphorically, this time."

I closed my eyes. The decision was made. There was no going back. I was going to end this. I was going to divorce Mark Johnson.