Chapter 5 The Point of no Return

Lily POV

I couldn't sleep that night. I lay in that beautiful bed, staring at the ceiling, Tony's words echoing in my mind like a broken record.

"Don't you think it's time you stopped being the victim and started being the villain?"

But I wasn't a villain. I was just... me. Plain Lily Williams who fell in love with the wrong man and paid the price for it. I still loved Alex, God help me. Even after everything he'd done, some stupid part of my heart still ached for him.

How pathetic was that?

The next morning, I found Tony in his kitchen, drinking coffee and reading the financial news on his tablet. He looked up when I walked in, his dark eyes studying my face.

"You look like hell," he said bluntly.

"Thanks. You really know how to make a girl feel better."

He poured me a cup of coffee without asking. "Did you think about my offer?"

I wrapped my hands around the warm mug, needing something to hold onto. "I did. All night."

"And?"

"It's insane. You're asking me to marry a complete stranger for revenge against a man who..." I stopped, the words catching in my throat.

"Who what?"

"Who I still love." The confession came out as barely a whisper.

Tony set down his tablet and leaned back in his chair. "After everything he did to you? After he tried to kill you?"

"Love doesn't just disappear because someone hurts you. I wish it did. God, I wish it did." Tears burned my eyes. "But it doesn't."

"Then you're going to let him win."

"There's no winning here, Tony. There's just... surviving."

He was quiet for a long moment, then stood up and walked to the window overlooking his garden. "My father used to tell me that the only thing worse than being hurt is letting the person who hurt you think they broke you."

"Maybe I am broken."

"No." He turned back to me, his voice firm. "Broken people don't fight back. Broken people don't run. You're not broken, Lily. You're just... bent. And bent things can be straightened."

I stared at him, this man who barely knew me but seemed to see something I couldn't see in myself.

"I'll do it," I said suddenly, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. "But I need something first."

"What?"

"Help me get divorced. Properly divorced. I can't marry you while I'm still legally married to him."

Tony's smile was sharp as a blade. "Consider it done."

:::::

My hands were shaking as I dialed Alex's number. Tony sat across from me in his study, silently supportive but letting me handle this myself.

"What do you want?" Alex's voice was cold, annoyed.

"I want a divorce."

There was silence on the other end, then a sound that might have been laughter. "Finally came to your senses, did you?"

"I'm ready to sign the papers. Today."

"About damn time. I was getting tired of waiting for you to stop being pathetic."

Each word was like a knife to my chest, but I forced my voice to stay steady. "Can we meet at your lawyer's office? I want to get this over with."

"Fine. Two o'clock. And Lily?"

"What?"

"Don't expect to get anything. You're walking away with nothing, just like you deserve."

The line went dead. I set the phone down and looked at Tony, who was watching me with those intense eyes.

"You okay?"

"No. But I will be."

::::::

The lawyer's office felt like a funeral parlor. Cold, sterile, and filled with the smell of old leather and broken dreams. Alex was already there when I arrived, sitting next to a woman I didn't recognize, probably his lawyer. Sarah wasn't with him, which was probably for the best.

He looked up when I walked in, and for just a moment, I saw something flicker in his eyes. Surprise, maybe? I had dressed carefully for this meeting, wearing one of the designer dresses from Tony's closet collection. I looked different. Polished. Expensive.

"Well, well," Alex said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Look who cleaned up nice. Where'd you steal the dress?"

"I didn't steal anything." I sat down across from him, keeping my voice level.

"Right. Because you're such an honest person." He turned to his lawyer. "Let's get this over with. I have better things to do."

The lawyer, a thin man with kind eyes, looked between us. "Before we begin, I want to make sure you both understand what's happening here. Mrs. Williams, you're agreeing to a no-contest divorce with no alimony, no division of assets, and no shared custody of any future children."

"There are no children," I said quietly.

"Because you couldn't even manage to do that right," Alex muttered.

The lawyer frowned. "Mr. Williams, I need to advise you that these comments are inappropriate and potentially.."

"It's fine," I interrupted. "I just want to sign the papers."

But it wasn't fine. Nothing about this was fine. As I read through the divorce decree, seeing my seven-year marriage reduced to legal language and signatures, I felt something inside me die.

"Here." Alex shoved a pen at me. "Sign on the dotted lines and we can both move on with our lives."

I picked up the pen, but my hand was shaking so badly I could barely hold it.

"Having second thoughts?" Alex's voice was mocking. "Finally realizing what a worthless piece of trash you really are?"

"Alex, please.."

"Please what? Please pretend I ever loved you? Please pretend our marriage meant something?" He leaned forward, his voice dropping to a vicious whisper. "You were never good enough for me, Lily. Not pretty enough, not smart enough, not woman enough. I settled for you because I felt sorry for you, and look where it got me."

The lawyer was saying something about inappropriate behavior, but I couldn't hear him over the roaring in my ears. This was Alex. The man I had loved with everything I had. The man I had given my heart, my body, my soul to.

And he was destroying me one word at a time.

"You're right," I said quietly, signing my name on the first line. "I wasn't good enough for you."

"Finally, some honesty."

I signed the second line. "I wasn't smart enough to see what you really were."

"What I really was? I was the best thing that ever happened to you."

I signed the third line. "I wasn't woman enough to satisfy you."

"Damn right you weren't."

I set down the pen and looked at him, really looked at him. At the man who had been my world for five years. "But you know what, Alex?"

"What?"

"I'm not that woman anymore."

Something in my voice must have changed, because his smirk faltered slightly.

"Good," he said, but he sounded less certain. "Maybe the next guy won't have to lower his standards so much."

I stood up, gathering my purse. "Good luck with Sarah. I hope she gives you everything you deserve."

"She will. She already has. She's everything you never could be."

I walked to the door, then stopped and turned back. "Alex?"

"What?"

"Goodbye."

I walked out of that office and didn't look back. Behind me, I could hear Alex saying something to his lawyer, but I didn't care anymore. I was free.

::::::

I made it all the way to Tony's car before I broke down. The tears came like a dam bursting, five years of pain and humiliation and shattered dreams pouring out of me all at once.

Tony didn't say anything, just handed me tissues and let me cry. He drove us back to his mansion in silence while I fell apart in the passenger seat.

"I'm sorry," I gasped when we pulled into his driveway. "I'm sorry, I'm such a mess."

"You're not a mess. You're human."

"I still love him." The words came out as a broken sob. "How stupid is that? After everything he said, everything he did, I still love him."

"Love isn't stupid, Lily. Misplaced, maybe. But not stupid."

I wiped my eyes, trying to pull myself together. "I need to call you. About your offer."

"You don't have to decide right now.."

"Yes, I do." I pulled out my phone with shaking hands. "I need to do this now, before I lose my nerve."

Tony studied my face for a long moment, then nodded. "Okay."

I dialed his number, even though he was sitting right next to me. It felt more official this way. More real.

"Tony Stark," he answered, playing along.

"Mr. Stark, this is Lily Williams. I've made my decision about your proposition."

"And?"

I took a deep breath, thinking about Alex's cruel words, about the way he'd looked at me like I was nothing. About the baby I'd lost and the life I'd never get back.

"I'm ready. I'll marry you."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. When do we start?"

Tony's smile was dangerous and beautiful at the same time. "How about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"I don't believe in wasting time. Especially when there's revenge to be had."

I laughed, and it sounded strange even to my own ears. "Tomorrow it is."

I hung up the phone and looked at Tony. Really looked at him. This man who was offering me a chance to rebuild my life, to show Alex that I wasn't the worthless woman he thought I was.

"No going back now," I said.

"No going back," he agreed. "Welcome to the beginning of your new life, Mrs. Stark."

The name sent a thrill through me that I wasn't expecting. Mrs. Stark. It had a nice ring to it. And for the first time since my world had fallen apart, I smiled and meant it.....