Chapter 3

I tossed my box of personal items onto the passenger seat of my car and drove away from the office building. I didn't look back. The city blurred past my window, but I wasn't seeing it. I was seeing the last five years of my life.

I replayed every argument, every disagreement with Sarah. It was always me who had to give in.

"David, we're a team. You need to compromise."

"David, this is for the good of the company."

"David, we're family. You can't be so rigid."

She was always on the opposite side of my decisions, no matter if I was right or wrong. She would frame it as me being difficult, as me not being a team player. Her favorite weapon was our relationship, the idea that as her husband, I had a duty to yield.

And for five years, I did. I compromised. I yielded. I chose to believe her words because I loved her. I thought her ambition was for us, for our shared future.

The most painful part wasn't the affair. It was watching her stand by Mark in the office. It was seeing her throw away every principle, every standard we had built our company on, just for him. She had abandoned logic, integrity, and our shared dream for a man who was incompetent and manipulative.

Love, I realized, isn't about demanding sacrifice. It's about protecting each other. It's about standing together, not using the relationship as leverage to win an argument. What she felt for me wasn't love. It was control. My love for her was a resource she could exploit.

My mind flashed back to the moment in the office, just before I left. After Sarah had sided with him, Mark got bolder. He stepped right up to me, his face inches from mine.

"You heard her. Get your stuff and get out. You're finished here," he whispered, a triumphant smirk on his face. He even gave me a slight shove. It wasn't hard, just a symbolic push to establish his dominance.

I looked over his shoulder at Sarah. She saw the whole thing. She saw him shove me. And she did nothing. She just stood there, her arms crossed, watching. Her silence was her consent. Her silence was her choice.

That was the moment everything inside me finally broke. It wasn't a loud shatter. It was a quiet, final crack. The man she chose was a petty bully, and she was his enabler.

The life I had built with her was a lie. And the only thing to do with a lie is to leave it behind.