“Sign the divorce papers, Elena.”

The words fell between us like a blade.

For several seconds, I simply stared at Adrian Blackwood.

My husband.

The man I had loved for five years.

The man whose name was engraved inside my wedding ring.

The man who had once promised me that no matter what happened, he would never let go of my hand.

Tonight, he couldn't even look at me.

He sat behind his enormous mahogany desk, dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit. His expression was cold, his jaw tight, and his eyes were fixed on the documents lying between us.

The divorce papers.

I looked down at them.

My name was printed neatly at the bottom.

Elena Hart.

Beside it was a blank space waiting for my signature.

My fingers tightened around the edge of the table.

“Why?” I finally asked.

Adrian didn't answer.

“Why are you doing this?”

His silence hurt more than any cruel word could have.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“Is it because of her?”

This time, his eyes moved.

Only for a second.

But that was enough.

I already knew the answer.

Sophia Vale.

Beautiful. Elegant. Wealthy.

The woman everyone said was perfect for Adrian Blackwood.

The woman who had been appearing beside my husband at business dinners, charity events, and magazine covers for the past six months.

The woman who had finally become more important than the wife who had stood beside him when he had nothing.

I laughed bitterly.

“So it's true.”

“Don't make this harder than it needs to be, Elena.”

My heart cracked.

“Harder?”

I looked at him in disbelief.

“You're asking me to end our marriage, Adrian. And you're telling me not to make it difficult?”

His expression remained emotionless.

“We've been unhappy for a long time.”

I almost smiled.

“Have we?”

“Yes.”

“Only you seemed to know.”

He looked away.

That hurt.

Five years.

I had spent five years learning every little thing about him.

I knew how he took his coffee.

I knew that he hated thunderstorms.

I knew he couldn't sleep when he was worried about a business deal.

I knew that when he was angry, he became frighteningly quiet.

And I knew that whenever he was exhausted, he would loosen his tie and rub the back of his neck.

I knew Adrian Blackwood better than anyone.

Yet tonight, I realized I didn't know the man sitting across from me at all.

“Did you ever love me?” I asked.

Silence.

My chest tightened.

“Just answer me.”

Adrian finally raised his eyes.

For the first time that evening, something flickered across his face.

Regret?

Pain?

I couldn't tell.

“I cared about you.”

I froze.

Cared.

Not loved.

Cared.

A single tear escaped before I could stop it.

I quickly wiped it away.

I refused to let him see me cry.

Not anymore.

I pushed the divorce papers toward myself.

“Fine.”

Adrian's eyebrows moved slightly.

Perhaps he expected me to beg.

Perhaps he expected tears.

Perhaps he expected the woman who had spent years trying to save their marriage to fall at his feet.

But she was gone.

I picked up the pen.

My hand trembled.

I looked at the wedding ring on my finger.

It had been a simple ring when we married.

Adrian had promised that one day, when his company became successful, he would replace it with a diamond.

He had.

Three years ago, he had slipped a huge diamond ring onto my finger during our anniversary dinner.

I had cried that night.

I had thought it meant he loved me.

Now the diamond felt like a chain.

I slowly removed it.

The ring landed on the table with a quiet metallic sound.

Adrian's eyes fell on it.

Something changed in his expression.

“You don't have to—”

“I do.”

My voice was surprisingly calm.

“You're ending our marriage. The ring doesn't belong to me anymore.”

I lowered my head and signed.

Elena Hart.

The moment the ink dried, something inside me died.

Five years.

Gone with one signature.

I pushed the papers toward him.

“Congratulations, Mr. Blackwood.”

His fingers tightened around the document.

“Don't call me that.”

I looked at him.

“Why?”

He didn't answer.

I stood.

My knees felt weak, but I refused to show it.

“Where are you going?”

I almost laughed.

“Home.”

His eyes darkened.

“This is your home.”

I stared at the luxurious office around us.

The Blackwood mansion.

The expensive furniture.

The photographs of us.

The life we had built together.

“No,” I whispered.

“This stopped being my home a long time ago.”

I turned toward the door.

“Elena.”

I stopped.

I didn't turn around.

“What?”

For several seconds, there was only silence.

Then he said the words that would stay with me for years.

“I hope you find someone who can give you what I couldn't.”

My eyes burned.

I closed them.

I had waited years to hear Adrian acknowledge that he had failed me.

But somehow, hearing it now hurt more than I expected.

“I already found someone.”

His voice changed.

“Who?”

I turned around.

“Myself.”

For the first time that night, Adrian looked stunned.

I walked out.

I didn't cry until I reached the elevator.

The doors closed.

The moment I was alone, my legs gave way.

I pressed my hand against my mouth to stop the sob that escaped.

Five years.

I had loved him for five years.

I had sacrificed everything for him.

When his company was failing, I had sold my mother's necklace to help him pay his debts.

When he worked through the night, I waited.

When people mocked him for being a young businessman with an impossible dream, I stood beside him.

When he became one of the most powerful CEOs in the city, I never asked for anything.

I didn't want his money.

I wanted him.

His love.

His loyalty.

His honesty.

And apparently, even that had been too much.

The elevator reached the ground floor.

I stepped outside the mansion.

Rain poured from the dark sky.

I stood beneath the entrance for a moment, staring at the road.

My driver was waiting.

“Mrs. Blackwood—”

“Don't call me that.”

The driver froze.

I took a deep breath.

“My marriage is over.”

He looked shocked.

I walked toward the car.

But before I could open the door, a sudden wave of dizziness hit me.

I grabbed the vehicle for support.

My hand instinctively moved to my stomach.

For a moment, I stood completely still.

A strange feeling passed through me.

Fear.

Hope.

Confusion.

No.

It couldn't be.

Not now.

Not after everything.

I remembered the doctor appointment I had missed two weeks earlier.

The exhaustion.

The nausea.

The strange changes in my body.

My heart began pounding.

“Mrs. Blackwood?” the driver asked worriedly.

I looked toward the mansion.

The lights on the second floor were still on.

Somewhere behind those windows was Adrian.

The man who had just divorced me.

The man who didn't know the truth.

My hand remained over my stomach.

I whispered the words so softly that even I could barely hear them.

“Adrian... you're going to be a father.”

A tear rolled down my cheek.

But this time, it wasn't because I was broken.

It was because I had made a decision.

I wouldn't tell him.

Not tonight.

Maybe not ever.

I got into the car and closed the door.

As the vehicle pulled away from the Blackwood mansion, I looked back one last time.

I didn't know that Adrian was standing at the window, watching my car disappear into the rain.

I didn't know that he was holding the divorce papers in one hand and my wedding ring in the other.

And I certainly didn't know that the moment I left his life would become the greatest regret of his entire existence.

Three years later, Adrian Blackwood would see me again.

But by then, I would no longer be the woman who begged him to love her.

I would be the woman powerful enough to destroy everything he had built.

And he would be the one begging me not to leave.