Lila stood frozen in the doorway, her hand still clutching the strap of her purse. Rowan’s words hung in the air, each one sharp enough to draw blood.


    “I saw you,” he said again, stepping closer. His hazel eyes burned with accusation, his jaw tight. “At the restaurant. Sitting there with some rich guy. Laughing with him. You didn’t even try to hide it.”


    Her pulse quickened, and for a moment, she couldn’t find her voice. “You followed me?” she finally asked, her tone sharp with disbelief.


    “What else was I supposed to do?” Rowan shot back. “You’ve been lying to me for weeks—months, maybe. I couldn’t just sit here and wait for you to come home with more lies.”


    Lila dropped her purse onto the floor, the leather thudding softly against the hardwood. “That man wasn’t—” She stopped herself, catching the words before they could slip out. If she told him it was her father, the truth would unravel far too quickly.


    “That man wasn’t what?” Rowan pressed, his voice rising. “Don’t tell me he’s just a friend, Lila. Don’t insult me.”


    “He’s not my lover,” she snapped, her own anger flaring now. “You have to stop jumping to the worst possible conclusions.”


    “Then explain it!” Rowan shouted. “Explain the gifts, the money, the restaurant, all of it! Because from where I’m standing, nothing about you makes sense anymore.”


    Lila’s heart pounded in her chest, her throat tightening as tears threatened to spill. She had been so close to telling him the truth last night, and now the distance between them felt insurmountable.


    “You don’t trust me,” she said softly, her voice trembling. “You’ve already decided what you believe, and nothing I say is going to change that.”


    Rowan scoffed, running a hand through his hair. “What do you expect me to believe, Lila? You keep disappearing, you show up with thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts, and now I catch you with some guy in a five-star restaurant. What am I supposed to think?”


    She took a step back, her shoulders slumping. “You’re supposed to think the best of me,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “You’re supposed to know who I am.”


    Rowan laughed bitterly. “Who you are? I don’t even know who you are anymore.”


    The words hit her like a punch to the gut. For a long moment, they stood in silence, the weight of the conversation pressing down on them both.


    Finally, Lila took a deep breath, steadying herself. “I can’t do this right now,” she said, her voice firmer than before. She turned and headed for the bedroom, shutting the door behind her before Rowan could say another word.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    ---


    The next morning, Lila sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her phone. Her father’s name flashed on the screen, accompanied by a text: “Call me. We need to talk.”


    She set the phone down without replying, her mind racing. Her dinner with James Harper the night before had been tense but predictable. He had been trying to convince her to return to the family, to embrace the life she had walked away from. And as always, she had refused.


    But Rowan’s reaction to seeing them together had shaken her. If he could jump to such cruel conclusions so easily, how would he react to the truth?


    A knock at the door pulled her from her thoughts. Rowan stood in the doorway, his expression guarded.


    “Can we talk?” he asked, his tone softer than the night before.


    She hesitated, then nodded. “Okay.”


    They sat across from each other in the living room, the tension between them palpable.


    “I need to know the truth, Lila,” Rowan said, his voice low. “I can’t keep doing this—this guessing game, this… spiral. If there’s something you’re hiding, just tell me.”


    She looked at him, her chest aching at the vulnerability in his eyes. She wanted to tell him everything, to take away his doubt and confusion. But she couldn’t—not yet.


    “There are things I can’t tell you,” she said carefully. “Not because I don’t trust you, but because it’s not the right time. You have to believe me when I say that I’m not cheating on you, and I never would.”


    Rowan’s jaw tightened, and he looked away, his hands clenched into fists. “How am I supposed to trust you when you’re keeping secrets?”


    Lila felt a flicker of frustration. “Everyone has secrets, Rowan. That doesn’t make them a liar.”


    He stood abruptly, pacing the room. “But this isn’t just a small secret, Lila. This is… I don’t even know what this is. It feels like you’re living a double life.”


    Her stomach twisted. In a way, he wasn’t wrong.


    “I love you,” she said, her voice trembling. “Isn’t that enough?”


    He stopped pacing and turned to face her. “It used to be,” he said quietly. “But now? I don’t know.”


    The silence that followed was suffocating.


    ---


    That afternoon, Rowan left the apartment without saying where he was going. Lila watched him go, her heart heavy with the knowledge that their marriage was hanging by a thread.


    As she sat alone in the quiet apartment, her phone buzzed again. This time, the message was from her mother: “Your husband doesn’t deserve you. Come home.”


    Lila clenched her jaw and deleted the message. She wasn’t going back to the Harper estate, not now, and not ever. But as she stared at the blank screen, a terrible thought crept into her mind.


    What if Rowan never forgave her?


    Late that night, Rowan returned home. His expression was unreadable, but there was a heaviness in his posture that made Lila’s stomach drop. He set his keys on the counter and stood in the doorway to the living room, his gaze fixed on her.


    “We need to talk,” he said, his voice cold and resolute.


    Lila’s heart pounded as she sat up straighter, clutching the hem of her sweater. “Rowan…”


    He held up a hand, stopping her before she could say anything more. “This isn’t working.”


    Her breath caught. “What do you mean?”


    He exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. “I can’t do this anymore. The lies, the secrets, the constant doubt—it’s killing me, Lila. And if I’m being honest, I don’t think I can trust you again.”


    Her chest tightened, her voice trembling. “Rowan, please don’t say that. We can work through this. I love you.”


    His expression didn’t soften. If anything, her words seemed to harden his resolve. “Love isn’t enough. Not when I don’t even know who you really are.”


    She stood, stepping toward him, desperation clawing at her. “Rowan, please. You can’t just give up on us.”


    He stepped back, shaking his head. “I’m not giving up. I’m protecting myself. I’m protecting us from dragging this out longer than we should.” He paused, his voice dropping lower. “I think we need a divorce.”


    The word hung in the air like a death sentence. Lila stared at him, her mind struggling to process what he had just said.


    “No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “You don’t mean that.”


    “I do,” he said firmly, though his voice cracked just slightly. “I can’t live like this, Lila. And I don’t think you can either.”


    Tears streamed down her cheeks as she reached for him, but he stepped away, his hands clenching into fists. “Rowan, don’t do this. Please.”


    “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice barely audible. Without another word, he turned and walked into the bedroom, closing the door behind him.


    Lila sank back onto the sofa, her body trembling as sobs wracked her chest. She buried her face in her hands, the weight of his words crushing her. Divorce. The one thing she had never thought possible was now


    staring her in the face.


    And for the first time, she didn’t know if she could fix what had been broken.