Chapter 3

"Just the regular kind," I said, my voice flat. "Maybe your taste is off tonight."

The double meaning hung in the air, but it flew right over her head. She just shrugged, taking another sip.

She set the mug down and moved closer, her body language shifting. She ran a hand down my arm, her touch electric, but now it only made my skin crawl. "I missed you today."

"I was at the office all day, Chloe," I said, my voice devoid of emotion.

"I know," she purred, pressing herself against me. "But I still missed you."

The words were so familiar, phrases she' d used a thousand times to make me feel loved, to make me feel like the center of her world. Now they were just acid, eating away at the hollow space inside me. I was a fool. A blind, trusting fool.

I forced myself to put my arms around her, the gesture stiff and unnatural. My body was screaming in protest. I could smell it again, faint but undeniable under her own scent. Liam' s cologne. It was a cheap, musky fragrance, the kind I' d smelled on him in the elevator once. It clung to her skin, to her hair.

A wave of something like an allergic reaction washed over me. My throat felt tight, my skin itchy. I pulled back, trying to mask a cough.

"Ethan? Are you okay?" Her face was a mask of concern, her eyes wide. "Is your allergy acting up? Did the cat get in here?"

We didn' t have a cat. I was allergic. It was a small, intimate fact of our life together. A fact she used to remember.

"I' m fine," I said, turning away. "Just tired."

The performance was seamless. The loving, worried wife. A few hours ago, I would have melted. Now, I saw the strings. I saw the actress. And it broke what was left of my heart.

As I turned, her eyes fell on my laptop, still open on the dining table. The application form was visible on the screen. "Global Cybersecurity Outreach," the header read in bold letters.

Her smile faded. "What' s that?"

She walked towards the table, her brow furrowed in confusion.

This was it. The moment. I could lie, close the laptop, and disappear in the morning. Or I could face it.

I was tired of the lies. All of them.

"It' s an application," I said, my voice steady.

She squinted at the screen. "Zercian Conflict Zone... High-Risk Deployment... Ethan, what is this?" Her voice was sharp with a rising panic.

I looked her straight in the eye. "Chloe," I said, the name feeling foreign on my tongue. "Let's get a divorce."

The color drained from her face. For a second, she looked completely lost, utterly shocked. The mask of the confident CEO shattered, leaving behind a confused, scared woman.

Then, the shock hardened into anger. "Divorce? Are you insane?" she hissed, her voice low and furious. "After everything? Our IPO is tomorrow! This is the worst possible time for you to have some kind of breakdown!"

She stormed over to me, grabbing my arms. "Is this about me being busy? I know I've been distracted, but it's almost over! Everything we worked for!"

She was trying to spin it, to make it my fault, my instability.

Then her tactic shifted. The anger melted away, replaced by a raw, desperate seduction. She pressed her body against mine, her hands moving up my chest, her eyes pleading. "Don' t do this, Ethan. Please. We' re so close. Whatever it is, we can fix it. I can fix it."

She tilted her head up to kiss me.