Chapter 2

Adeline Campos POV:

Dorian blinked, his brow furrowed in confusion. "What... what did you just say?" he asked, his voice strained.

I looked past him, at Brittny, who was watching me with a barely concealed smirk of triumph. It didn't even faze me anymore.

"I said, I' m letting you go," I repeated, my voice clear and steady now. The tremor was gone. "Go on. Be her knight in shining armor. Save her. It' s what you' ve always wanted."

I turned, my decision a solid, unshakeable weight in my gut. "Dorian, we' re done."

Then I added the words that made it real, the words that I had been too scared to say for months.

"I want a divorce."

The drive back from the station was a blur of silence and simmering rage. Not just my rage, but his. He had refused to accept it, following me out to my car, his face a mask of disbelief.

"We are not getting a divorce, Adeline," he' d said, yanking open the passenger door and sliding in before I could lock it.

Before I could protest, Brittny had quietly slipped into the back seat, an unwelcome shadow. Now, the space in my Mercedes felt contaminated, claustrophobic.

Dorian broke the silence, his voice tight with frustration. "Nothing happened between me and Brittny. I swear."

I kept my eyes fixed on the road, my knuckles white on the steering wheel.

"I was at the diner for a meeting, and she was crying," he continued, his tone pleading. "Her ex-boyfriend has been threatening her, saying he' d plant drugs in her apartment and call social services to take Cael away. He lured her to that motel, saying he wanted to talk. She got scared and called me. That' s it. The police were already there."

He was trying to make it sound noble. A heroic rescue. But all I heard was the same old story. Brittny was in trouble, and Dorian, my Dorian, had to be the one to save her.

As if on cue, a soft sob came from the back seat.

"I' m so sorry, Mrs. Warner," Brittny whimpered. "I never meant to come between you two. I would never try to steal your husband."

She paused, her voice taking on a new, saccharine tone. "But Dorian... he' s just so... good. He' s kind and protective. He reminds me of what a real man should be."

She let out a shaky sigh. "Sometimes I let myself dream... what it would be like if I wasn't a single mom with so much baggage. If I was free... I would fight for a man like him. I really would."

The air in the car thickened with her cloying perfume and even more cloying words. I felt a surge of nausea. Dorian was silent, and I knew, without even looking at him, that he was moved by her pathetic, transparent confession.

That was it.

I slammed on the brakes.

The car screeched to a halt in the middle of the street, throwing us all forward. In the rearview mirror, I saw Brittny' s eyes, wide with a flicker of fear before she composed her features back into a mask of tear-stained innocence. Dorian shot me a furious look.

I just laughed, a bitter, hollow sound.

I pressed the button to unlock the doors and rolled down the passenger-side windows. The cool evening air rushed in, but it couldn't clear the stench of betrayal.

"There," I said, my voice dripping with scorn. "I' m making it easy for you. You don' t have to sneak around anymore. Get out."

Dorian stared at me, his mouth agape. "Adeline, what are you doing?"

"I' m setting you free," I said, looking from his face to Brittny' s in the rearview mirror. "Go ahead. Fuck in a motel room. I promise I won' t have you reported this time."

The words were ugly, vile. I could feel them tearing at my own throat as I spoke them.

"Maybe you can even have a baby of your own," I added, the cruelty of the words a shield against the crushing pain in my chest. "A perfect little family."

The air was so thick with unspoken things I could barely breathe. Brittny' s face crumpled, her act finally cracking under the force of my raw, unfiltered contempt.

"You' re a horrible woman!" she shrieked, fumbling with the door handle. She scrambled out of the car, standing on the curb and glaring at me with pure hatred.

The moment her door slammed shut, Dorian turned on me.

"Are you happy now?" he snarled, his face contorted with anger. "You had to humiliate her like that? What is wrong with you, Adeline? She' s a victim in all of this!"

He made a move to get out of the car. "I have to make sure she' s okay. She has nowhere to go."

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